The XMorphs
by Kal Shaka Mel
Summary: XMen Evolution/Animorphs x-over. When the X-Men move to California, they come across a group of teens also fighting for the world. Summary sucks, I know. Enjoy. Rated for language, and later scenes. Pairs announced in story. CHAPTER 3 DONE! Review please
1. The Meeting

Warning: The following story is fem-slash, and is not recommended for people with heart disease, liver problems, or homophobia (especially the latter).

This is expected of all stories, so here it goes: I don't own shit. There, ya happy? (I'm not)

Normal going-ons will be written normal.

_Thoughts and emphasized words will be italicized. _

**Bold will be actions and sounds.**

**_Bold italics will mean extra emphasis._**

"Normal speech will be quoted."

*Quiet shit will be stared.*

(After thoughts or add-ons will be parenthesized.)

And thought-speech will be underlined, (this includes Xavier's mind communication)

So, that's it. Enjoy! Or suffer. It depends on whether ya like the story.

* * *

**Chapter 1: The Meeting**

It's hard to believe how a single action can change your entire life. Just ask the Animorphs. They made a choice about two years ago to take a short cut through an abandoned construction site to get home, now they fight against alien forces whose sole purpose is to enslave all humanity. Funny how things turn out, huh?

The X-Men, on the other hand, never chose the lives they live. They didn't choose their powers. And they didn't choose whether or not to move out of Bayville to go to California.

Our story begins with a normal start of a Saturday for the Animorphs. Marco Laxus was procrastinating to wake up. Tobias Hawking (no pun intended) was hunting for his morning meal. Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill (or Ax) was doing his morning run absorbing grass. Jake Berenson was feeding his dog Homer. Rachel Berenson was attempting to retrieve her stolen hairbrush from her sister Jordan, with her other sister, Sarah, laughing at them. Cassie Warborne was helping her parents feed and care for the injured animals in her barn (a.k.a. The Wildlife Rehabilitation Center).

The morning for the X-Men and the New Recruits (as they have come to be called) was far from their normal morning. They had recently changed location from Bayville New York to somewhere in California.

Their morning started a little less normal (normal by their standards). They had to restrain from using their powers since they were in a hotel while the new mansion was being built. They were all sharing several rooms. Both Mr. McCoy and Kurt Wagner were wearing holographic image inducers to hide their fury forms. Other than the fact that they were all suppressing their powers, it was kind of a normal morning.

Kurt decided to go to the mall. Since he knew better than to go out alone in a new town, he asked some of the others to go with him. He asked Tabitha and Amara, Peter, Bobby, Jubilee, Scott and Jean (for transportation). He tried asking Rouge, but she refused. She said there were too many people for her taste. He was going to ask his girlfriend Kitty, but he couldn't find her.

"Hey, Professor?" Kurt asked after getting permission to go. "Do you know where Kitty is? I haven't seen her today and that worries me."

Professor Charles Xavier smiled at the German mutant.

"Yes," he replied. "I believe she went on a nature walk with Hank and a few other students to the forest a few miles out of town."

"Oh. Thanks Professor!" With that Kurt gathered the group and they set off.

***

Tabitha was overjoyed that they were finally going to go to the mall. She's been itching to go ever since she got here.

"WOO-HOO! We're finally goin' to the mall! I wonder how big it is?" she wondered out loud as they drove there.

"I sure hope it's as big as the one in Bayville," Tabitha's girlfriend Amara replied.

When they got there, they all stared in awe. The mall here was at least twice as big as the one in Bayville!

_Holy SHIT!_ Tabitha thought. _I'm gonna have some F-U-N here!_ She looked at Amara with a sly smile on her face. Amara looked at her and smiled back. They were both getting the same ideas.

When they got inside they all decided they were hungry. So after much distress and headache, they finally found their way to the food court. Kurt immediately made his way to the cinnamon bun place. He simply loves cinnamon buns. He can eat 25 in one sitting and still have room for more.

As he walked up to the counter he passed a kid with three trays of cinnamon buns. At first Kurt thought he was some kind of waiter until he sat down at a table with one girl and three other guys and started digging in with the others looking at him as though they've seen this before. Even Kurt was impressed at how many buns this guy was eating. He walked up to the counter to place his order.

"What'll it be, sir?" the guy behind the counter asked.

"Give me what you gave him," Kurt said, pointing at the other guy.

The counter guy sighed. "Great," he said. "Another cinnamon bun freak." He placed the order. "You know, this is his third time coming up here."

"Really?" Kurt asked. "Well then I intend on beating his record!"

"Good luck. This isn't even half his normal diet!"

"Just get me my damn food," Kurt said, suddenly depressed. This kid already beat his record! It seems Kurt has finally found his better... or did he?

***

Meanwhile, on the nature walk…

Kitty wasn't the only one to go. With her were Rahne, Ray, Jamie, Sam, and Roberto.

They all loved the beauty of nature. Well, except for Ray and Sam. They just wanted to get away from the crowded hotel. And Jamie just wanted to be near Kitty. But Kitty, Roberto, Rahne, and Mr. McCoy simply loved it.

Something caught Kitty's eye. Something black.

"Hey, Rahne!" she called her friend quietly. "Check this out!"

Rahne walked over to see what it was. A couple of Black Bear cubs!

"Look at how cute they are!" Kitty said, keeping her voice down.

"Yeah, very cute!" Rahne agreed, also keeping her voice down. Little did they know that their group was leaving them, and that something big was sneaking up on them!

Rahne smelled it before it made a noise (since she's practically a wolf).

"RRRRRROOOOOOOAAAAAAARRRRR!!!!!!!" the mother Black Bear roared standing on its hind legs!

It swung a paw at Kitty, who phased through it and ran. Rahne, however, was not so lucky. She was cornered! She did the only thing she could do; she turned into her red wolf form.

The mother bear cocked its head at the new creature, but stood its ground all the same. They circled each other, waiting for the other to make a move. The mother got impatient and roared again.

Rahne took this chance and pounced. She bit into the neck of the bear and held on as hard as she could. The bear roared again and smacked her off, tearing her flesh with its claws. Rahne heard something snap in her leg as she bounced off the ground and into a tree. In sudden searing pain of her broken leg, she knew she was finished.

She waited for the finishing blow that didn't come. She peeked through her eyelids and saw the bear walking off with her children. After they were gone she got up and tried to limp back, but she didn't know where to go. So she limped off in a random direction. She could smell herself bleeding. It was only a matter of time till she died.

She finally made it out of the woods. But she didn't know where she was. There was a large red barn and a house. In the barn she could smell a variety of sick animals. She limped over but fell just outside the door. She whimpered trying to get the people inside's attention. She heard the door open and someone gasp. She looked up and saw an African American girl standing there. Rahne couldn't help but think this girl was… cute.

The girl picked her up carefully and brought her inside. Rahne felt safe in her arms. A warm sensation spread from the girl's touch. Soon, Rahne felt herself drift off into a deep sleep.

***

Cassie was about to finish up and head to the mall to meet the others who already gathered there. But then she heard faint whimpering. She went to the barn door and gasped. On the ground was the reddest red wolf she had ever seen. She barely saw the blood in the red fur.

It looked up at her and she almost fell. It had the most startling green eyes she had ever seen! They were so intelligent! But their beauty was marred by pain. They pleaded her to help.

She quickly but gently picked up the poor creature and carried it to the operating table. It fell asleep in her arms. She ran inside and practically tore her parents away from National Discovery to help fix the wolf. Once her parents started, Cassie pulled out her cell' and called Jake.

**Ring ring. Ring ring. Ring rin**… "Hello?" she heard him answer.

"Hey, Jake," she said. "Listen, I won't be able to make it to the mall today."

"Why not?" he asked. The despair in his voice was obvious.

"A red wolf showed up badly hurt. Looks like it ran into a bear or something," she explained.

"Oh. Sorry you can't make it. This weird German kid challenged Ax to a bun eating contest, and is actually winning!"

"Can't believe I'm missing that! Anyway, I gotta go. Bye," she said.

"Yeah, uh, bye," he said. There was a hint of hesitation in his voice, like he didn't want the conversation to end. Cassie, on the other hand was not so hesitant, and hung up immediately.

She sighed. _How much longer can I keep this up?_ she wondered to herself. _If I don't tell him I'm gay soon, he may never accept it! Rachel's right, I do procrastinate too much. If I had told her it was her I liked from the start, I wouldn't have to keep up this charade of liking Jake._

She was quickly shaken out of her thoughts when her mother called her over to help set the wolf's broken leg.

***

Kurt won the contest when the guy named Ax (who, for some bizarre reason, liked to play with the sounds coming out of his mouth, as though he never had one before) vomited. To celebrate Kurt ate even more cinnamon buns… and then he threw up.

"Yeah. Alright, Professor, we're on our way," Scott said, finishing the conversation he had been having since the contest began. "'Kay guys, time to pack up. The Professor wants us back at the hotel."

"We just got here!" Jubilee groaned.

"He said something happened on that nature walk that a few students went on," Jean said.

That snapped Kurt out of his cinnamon daze. "What happened?! Is Kitty alright?! TELL ME!!" he practically screamed.

The people with Ax just stared, except for one guy who was talking to someone who called him on his cell'.

"Kitty's fine," Scott assured the German mutant. "But Rahne's missing. The Professor wants us to return to the hotel then we're gonna go look for her."

Jean counted them. "Hey," she noticed. "Where're Tabitha and Amara?"

Jubilee sighed. "I'll get them. *Probably in the bathroom making out,*" she muttered under her breath.

The blonde of the other group cocked her head at hearing this. She looked at her friends who either didn't hear it or didn't care.

Jubilee couldn't care less if they heard. To her, Tabitha and Amara should have just stayed at the hotel if they were gonna do this! They were always sneaking off!

She stormed into the nearest bathroom and, to her utter shock (can't ya just feel the sarcasm?), they were making out. Tabitha had Amara pressed up against the bathroom wall, their bodies so close they could almost be considered one. Tabitha's hands were exploring Amara's sensitive areas (her left hand up her shirt, her left down her pants). Even though they were on the other side of the bathroom (and it was a little spacious) Jubilee could feel the heat coming from Amara due to her power, and Tabitha was just feeding the flames.

"Ahem," Jubilee made her presence known. They pulled away from each other a little, a strand of saliva still connecting their mouths. They looked at her. Well, Amara looked, Tabitha glared. "The Professor called. He wants us back at the hotel," Jubilee explained.

Tabitha sighed. "Can't it fucking wait?" she asked. She turned back to continue her work with Amara, who looked like she was thinking the same.

_Time to tell them._ Jubilee thought. "Rahne's missing," she said.

That stopped both of the girls. They may want each other, but when one of their own was in danger, they do whatever they can to help, even if it means giving up on personal enjoyment. Tabitha pulled away from Amara, and the heat Amara was giving off subsided.

"Alright, let's go," Tabitha said reluctantly.

***

When Rahne woke up, she was in a cage. She didn't like cages. She was claustrophobic and the bars made it worse. She tried to move her front left leg, but was met with pain. It was broken, that much was obvious. When she looked at it, she noticed it was in a splint. The gash on her side was bandaged as well.

She looked around and sniffed. She was surrounded by a variety of animals: pigeons, eagles, hawks, wolves, rats, squirrels, horses, and others. One thing they all had in common was they were either sick or injured.

She heard growling to her right. When she looked she saw two gray wolves growling at her from the cage next to her. One was paralyzed from the waist down, and the other was missing a leg. She bared her teeth and snarled. They backed off, but kept their eyes on her.

"Well, you're quite the fighter, aren't you?"

Rahne looked out the front of her cage and saw the same girl who brought her inside. She was African American, with beautiful brown eyes and braided black hair. She smelled like animal poop, and had some bird poop on her shirt. She wore faded jeans that were splattered with mud (she could tell by the smell it was mud). Surprisingly, the look worked for her.

She knelt in front of Rahne's cage. "I'm Cassie, by the way. I saved you." Rahne just stared.

Rahne had always been attracted to girls, even before she moved to America. Her last relationship ended shortly before with this girl from Bayville. Apparently she was allergic to dogs, and Rahne was too close to a dog not to be bothered by this.

"It was touch-and-go for a while," the girl... Cassie... said, "but we patched you up as best we could," she said with a smile. It looked beautiful on her in Rahne's opinion.

Rahne pulled herself up to a sitting position in her wolf form. She looked around nervously at the cage and whimpered.

Cassie giggled. "You can take on bears, almost die, and still have room for wolves, but get scared when put in a cage? You are one weird wolf," she said. Personally Rahne would rather take the bear again just to get out of this cage.

But Rahne had always been claustrophobic, ever since she could remember, just like her teacher, Storm. Whenever she was captured in the battle simulations and placed in a cell, she would freak out. She began to get jittery, whimpering and looking for a way out.

Cassie sighed. "Okay, you want out?" she asked. Rahne looked at her, trying to speak with her eyes. Cassie seemed to understand, because then she opened the cage door. Rahne almost jumped out, if her leg hadn't slowed her down. She did her best to keep her weight off it. When she was out she took a better look around, the sun was shining through an opening in the rafters helping her view.

Suddenly her mind filled with questions. Where exactly was she? How long had she been out? She looked around again, looking for a clock. She couldn't find one. She saw her reflection in a large mirror propped up against the wall. She limped over to it, just to see it better.

She looked better than she thought she did. The bandages around her waist were done neatly, with a perfect knot keeping it together. It felt like it could survive anything! Her splint looked even better. The two parts of the same bone were perfectly placed together. The knot keeping it together felt like the one keeping her bandages together. She had to admire its craftsmanship.

Cassie walked up next to her. She had a confused look on her face. She had never seen a wolf do this before. And she noticed a look of admiration and gratitude in the strange wolf's brilliant green eyes.

Rahne rubbed up against her savior. Cassie looked down at her and could've sworn she saw the red wolf's face become even brighter. Cassie bent down at patted Rahne's head.

They both jumped when they heard the door open. There was a woman there who Rahne guessed must have been Cassie's mother. They had the same brown eyes and kind feel about each other.

"Cassie," she said, "Jake's here."

Cassie sighed. Rahne looked at her. She had a look on her face that said "Not again." Who was this Jake? Were the two of them friends? Rahne's already cramped head filled even more questions.

"Alright," she said, "send him in."

Her mom nodded and looked at Rahne. "You let her out?" she asked.

"She looked uncomfortable in the cage," Cassie explained. "She's fine, Mom. She's healing very fast!"

Her mother smiled and left.

Then a boy about the age of 15 walked in. He had dark but kind eyes and the look of a leader. He also looked like he had been through a lot of pain. His eyes brightened when he saw Cassie. Rahne guessed that this was Jake.

"Hey, Cassie," he said. "How's that wolf you told me about?"

Rahne straitened at hearing this. She had been sitting awhile. _Did Cassie really tell him about me?_ she wondered to herself.

"She's right here," Cassie pointed at me. Jake raised his eyebrows.

"I knew you were good, Cassie," he said, "but wow! Already walking after a bear?"

_You actually doubt her capabilities?_Rahne mentally demanded. For some reason she was getting defensive of Cassie. Maybe it was her gratitude, or maybe it was her attraction to her. Whatever it was, she knew wouldn't be there in not for this girl, and she wouldn't have anyone downing Cassie's capabilities (even if they didn't mean to).

Cassie, however, didn't seem to notice this 'disrespect'. "I know!" she said. "But all we did was patch her up. There are stitches on the gash wounds in her side, so the bandages are temporary, but other than that and the leg, she's doing great! From the amount of blood she lost, I'm surprised she's still alive!"

Rahne perked her ears up. Questions started to once again flood her brain. Was it really her strength keeping her alive? She was always a fast healer, even before moving to the Institute from Britain. And training sessions with Mr. Logan really toughened her up. But Cassie deserved most of the credit.

Then Jake looked confused. "How do you know it's a 'she'?" he asked her.

"We found out while we were putting the bandages on her," Cassie answered, causing Rahne to turn red (shut up, you know what I mean).

Then Jake's expression got serious… very serious.

"The others are coming over tonight for the monthly meeting," he said. "Eric says he heard about something that might give us an advantage against the Yeerks."

Now Rahne's head was really spinning. _Yeerks? _she asked herself. _What the fuck is a Yeerk? And who's Eric? Who the hell are these guys?_ Questions filled her head yet again (she's gonna have one bad headache in the morning!).

Jake quickly changed the subject, changing his face from serious leader, to embarrassed teen.

"So, um, Cassie," he said, "I was wondering, um… damn it!" He cursed, trying to get himself to say whatever it was he needed to say. "I was wondering… ifyouwantedtogooutwithme?" He said the last part so fast Cassie couldn't hear it. But Rahne, with her super wolf hearing, heard it and nearly keeled over.

_...WHAT?!_Rahne screamed in her head. _He did not just ask her out!_

Cassie, however, didn't understand what he had said and just stared blankly. "I'm sorry, what?" she asked.

Jake calmed himself, taking breaths so deep he have could have swallowed the ocean. "I asked," he said, "'if you wanted to go out with me?' Before the meeting. Maybe a movie?" His face got so red it almost matched Rahne's fur (and that's saying something!).

This time Cassie did hear it, and unfortunately it confirmed Rahne's worst fear: Cassie was taken. She didn't know what was worse: seeing her biggest crush ever asked out by someone else or hearing her say 'yes'...

... ... ...

Wait, she didn't say 'yes', but she didn't say 'no' either. Rahne perked up. _Maybe she'll say no. Yeah! I mean, come on! What's so great about..._ she stopped dead in her thoughts when she saw the look in his eyes. It was hope mixed with despair. Not even she could say no to that face! It just wasn't possible! _I'm doomed,_ was Rahne's only thought after that.

Rahne's heart ached when she saw Cassie's face. Cassie looked pained. She looked like she was debating what to say. The look in her eyes (much to Rahne's joy) said "no," but she looked like she didn't want to hurt him. Rahne needed a plan. All her training with the X-Men and New Mutants had taught her to think on her feet, and within seconds she had a plan.

A plan to keep Cassie from hurting him, and keeping her here.

***

Cassie couldn't believe what she was hearing! Here was the guy she pretended to like so she could be close to his cousin asking her out! Maybe she should have told him before. She had been dropping hints that she was gay all over the place, but the only ones who figured it out were Tobias, Ax, and Rachel. And she told Rachel! Cassie knew Marco was slow, but Jake? There was no way! Maybe he noticed but just ignored them. Were his feelings that strong?

She looked in his eyes and lost all hope. There was a look that could melt the hardest and coldest heart. At seeing that, she made up her mind. She would tell him now. No more beating around the bush! She had to tell him!

She opened her mouth to talk when she heard a yelp of pain to her immediate left. She looked and saw the wolf curled up, gritting its teeth so hard it looked like they might shatter. She instantly rushed to help it. Jake also rushed over, the embarrassment in his face replaced by worry.

"Is it okay?" he asked.

"I don't know," Cassie answered. "She was doing so well!" Together they picked her up and brought her to the table. "I'm gonna have to pass on that movie, Jake," Cassie said.

"That's fine," he said once they got the wolf situated. "How about next Saturday?"

Cassie hesitated. Should she tell him? Could he take it? Her thoughts were interrupted by the wolf's whimpers. She looked for a quick answer. "Rain check," she said finally.

"Okay," he said. "I should get going now. I'll leave you to your dog."

The wolf growled at him.

"Wolf!" he corrected himself. "Sorry. Smart wolf. Later Cassie!" With that he turned and left.

Cassie stared after him. _He loves me so much,_ she thought, _and I don't love him. How sad._ She shook away the thoughts. If she started pitying him she'll never tell him. She turned her focus to the wolf. But to her utter shock, the wolf picked up her head and looked where Jake was a few seconds ago, as if confirming he was gone. Then she sat up with a proud look in her eyes, like she planned it. _Maybe she's smarter than a normal wolf?_ Cassie thought.

"Did you plan that?" she asked the wolf. Instead of a vocal response the wolf just turned redder (don't... say... a word!). Cassie smiled and hugged the wolf. It felt weird, but she wanted to thank the wolf. She postponed 'Confession Day,' as Cassie called it. "Hey," she said as an idea came to her. "How about you stay in the house tonight? We're having meat-loaf, so you can have some of that. And you can stay in my room!"

The wolf looked like it was about to faint. There was so much joy in those intelligent eyes. As if to answer as best it could, it licked Cassie's cheek. Cassie giggled. "I guess it's settled then!" she said. With that she took the wolf off the table and walked with her to the house.

***

They had been searching all night! Kurt almost felt like killing Rahne himself when they found her if the bear didn't already get her.

They had split into teams. Kurt was with Kitty, Rouge, and Peter Rasputin (better known as Colossus, who had defected from Magneto's Acolytes to join them). The other teams were Ray, Bobby, Sam, and Jamie; Jubilee, Tabitha, Amara, and Christy Jane who can talk to machines (made her up, needed four); and Scott, Jean, Hank, and Ororo. Logan and the Professor stayed behind to make sure no one showed up to interfere with the search.

Xavier was getting worried. The sun was going down and they haven't found anything that might tell them where she was. He had tried using Cerebro, but with no success.

"I don't understand," he said. "We should have found her by now! At least her body."

"When a bear eats," Logan said, "it don't leave no leftovers."

"Storm," Xavier said into one of the X-Communicators, "have you found her yet?"

"I would have contacted you if I did, Professor," Ororo answered. "This is a big forest, Professor. She could be anywhere!"

"Okay. Keep searching." He switched the settings to contact Scott. "Cyclops, do you have anything?"

"Nothing yet, Professor. I'll let you know if we have anything."

The Professor sighed. "Do your best." He switched settings again. "Colossus. Anything?"

"Nothing yet, Professor," answered the Russian mutant. He smashed a tree aside. "We will make the contact when we have something."

"Thank you. Keep searching," the Professor said.

"Will do." With that they deactivated their communicators. Peter smashed another tree.

"Jeez, dude!" yelled the German elf after a small flash and a puff of smoke. "I was in that one! And why are you doing that anyway?"

"Searching," the metal Russian said simply.

"Well search a little quieter!"

"Yeah!" Kitty agreed. "We don't want to, like, scare her!"

"I don't see the whole reason for this," came a southern accent from behind them. Rouge was leaning against a tree, her pale skin visible in the growing darkness. "I think we should just say she's dead and leave it at that."

The others glared at her. "What's WRONG with you!?" Kitty demanded. "You know very well we, like, don't leave people behind!"

"Yeah!" Kurt chimed in. "We never give up on each other!"

"I would gladly risk my life in search of a fellow comrade!" Peter said.

With that the three of them turned and started making their way deeper in the forest, more quietly this time. Rouge sighed and went off after them. It wasn't long till they found something. It looked like the ground had been scooped up and made a hole big enough for a few people, with a large tarp covering it. They quieted down when they heard people talking in it. They each did their best to stay quiet. Kitty phased through anything she touched (save for the ground), Peter turned into his human form, Rouge just stayed behind, and Kurt stayed in the trees.

They soon found that someone was watching TV in the hole. Whoever was watching was watching some info-mercials. The TV salesperson was talking about an investment in some sort of workout machine. Kurt almost gasped when he saw who was watching.

"Who's watching it?" Kitty whispered.

"You wouldn't believe if I told you!" he answered in a hushed voice. He turned his attention back to the creature watching TV. It was weird to say the least. It had blue fur like him, but instead of normal legs he had a horse's body. He also had two stalk things coming out of the top of his head with an eye on the end of each. They looked like they could have spun around and see him. Luckily for him, they were all focused on the TV. He seemed fascinated by it.

Peter wanted to know who was watching it. His curiosity finally got the best of him. He took a step forward and stepped on a twig. Kurt saw one of the eyes swerve toward him. _FUCK!_ he thought.

"Time to go, guys!" he said as he dropped down to their level. He grabbed Kitty and Peter's arms and wrapped his tail around Rouge. The centaur creature emerged from the 'scoop' just long enough for Kurt to get a better look at him. He had no mouth and a weird looking slit nose. He also appeared to have too many fingers. But the most startling feature was the tail: a large curved tail like a scorpion's and a wickedly curved blade at the end. It looked like it could do major damage. Kurt didn't give it a chance to see any more of them and in a puff of smoke they were gone.

They reappeared back at the vans. The Professor and Logan looked shocked to say the least.

"There's something in the woods!" Kurt told them.

"What is it?" Xavier asked.

"Some sort of centaur thing!" Kitty said.

"Never have I seen such a creature, Professor," Peter put in.

"Hm, we need to recall everyone," Xavier said to Logan.

He nodded. "Calling all X-Men and New Recruits," he said into a communicator, "the Professor wants you all to come back. Nightcrawler's team found something strange and potentially dangerous."

After receiving confirmation they all turned tail and hurried back.

"What is it, Professor?" Ororo asked when her team (which was the last) got back.

"Nightcrawler's team saw something," he explained. "Kurt, would you like to tell us what it was?"

"Sure," he answered. "I'm not one-hundred percent on what it was, but I'll do my best to explain." He turned to the crowd. "It looked like some sort of blue centaur-"

"Like you, Wild-Blue-Yonder boy?" Tabitha asked from the crowd, earning her a few glares. "What?"

"Actually, a lot like me," Kurt said. "But it had no mouth, two stalk things out of the top of its head with eyes on them, way too many fingers, and a strange scorpion tail thing. It looked dangerous, so next time we go out there, we need to be caref-"

"Wait one damn minute!" Rouge yelled from the crowd, causing heads to turn. "We're goin' back?! Why can't ya'll just accept she's dead?!"

"We will keep searching until we have confirmation that she's dead," Xavier said.

"What if that... that thing killed her?" she asked glaring intensely at them, waiting for someone to back her up.

"We don't know that for sure, Rouge," Ororo said.

"Besides," Kurt added, "how would you like it if you were alive and lost in the woods waiting for us to find you, and we just assumed you were dead and went on with our lives?"

That question shut her up, but didn't lessen her glare's intensity.

"Yes, thank you, Kurt," Xavier said. "But we cannot rule out the possibility of her death just yet. This creature is probably another rouge mutant. If so, we must talk to it, see what it is."

All the students groaned and started complaining about the time. By then the sun had almost completely submerged in the horizon. The full moon that night would provide little light, but they were getting tired.

"But not tonight," Xavier assured them. "You have all worked hard. Tomorrow at dawn we will begin again. For now, let's head back and get some rest. You start school on Tuesday because of a faculty meeting to inform the teachers about you new students."

They all got back in their respective rides and headed back, their heads filled with worry. Some agreed with Rouge that Rahne was dead, but most of them, like Storm, wanted confirmation of it.

Others, like Kurt's team (not including Rouge), believe that Rahne's alive somewhere, in pain, in need of help. They would stop at nothing to find and help her. Nothing would stop them, not even the Professor...

***

The steak they had that night was heavenly. Rahne absolutely loved it! But she knew she couldn't stay. The others were probably looking for her. She thought the Professor would've located her through Cerebro by now. Maybe she was unconscious when he tried. It only locates people when they are having conscious thought.

No matter. She couldn't stay. That much she knew. But first she had to know what this meeting was all about. Her leave could wait till then. This could be important. Something told her these Yeerks weren't cuddly little kittens.

After dinner she and Cassie went to the barn. They stayed and waited in the barn for these "others" to come. While they waited, Rahne watched Cassie feed and care for the animals. The way she handled them made Rahne like her even more, the way she was gentle but stern when caring for them, making sure they got what they needed. The animals seemed to be calm with her caring for them.

After a while the others came.

The first was a short guy. Like, seriously short with a bad haircut and sarcastic eyes. He wore blue jeans and a red T-shirt. He looked like he was ready to crack a joke on the first person he saw. This, according to Cassie, was Marco.

"Yo, wha's up tree-hugger?" he asked when he came in.

"Not much, crybaby," she replied.

He laughed. They had obviously been through this before, so the insults bounced harmlessly off the other. Then Marco spotted Rahne.

"Where'd you get the dog?" he asked.

Rahne growled at him. She didn't like being called a dog. It was demeaning! In her mind there was a big difference between wolves and dogs. Wolves were smarter and more civilized than those goofy, giddy, stupid dogs!

"She's a wolf," Cassie corrected him. "She popped in this morning with a broken leg and a gashed side. That's why I couldn't make it to the mall this morning. And she doesn't like being called a dog."

"Pu-lease!" he said. "She probably doesn't even know what we're saying! I'm gonna keep calling her a dog, so she can just bite me!"

_Bad choice of words, idiot!_Rahne thought. She decided to give him what he asked for, and bit him in the classic area: the ass! Not hard enough to cause major damage, but enough to get her point across.

"AAAAAHHHHH!!" he yelled. "Get this dog off me!" Rahne bit harder. "OOOOUUUUCH!!! Ok, ok! Wolf! Sorry, wolf!!" With that Rahne let go. She limped back over to Cassie, who was laughing her skull out.

"Told ya," she managed to say through gasping for breath.

"That's no normal wolf!" he said, grasping his ass in pain. "That's a fucking demon wolf!" Rahne glanced at him and snarled, making him wince. "Sorry!" Cassie started laughing again.

That's when the next person came: a tall blonde girl with icy blue eyes and perfect make-up and perfect curves. Had Rahne not already liked Cassie, she might've fallen for this girl. But Rahne still found her attractive, she just liked Cassie more. The girl was wearing a blue tank top and tight blue jeans. She looked like a fashion model. Cassie was too busy laughing to tell me who this girl was.

"Aww, what happened?" the girl asked seeing Marco. "Did da wittle cwybaby get hurt?" She mocked Marco like a pro! "You cry about everything, you know that Marco?"

"SHUT-UP, RACHEL!" he yelled, still holding his sore ass. "That damned wolf bit my ass!"

_So that's her name! _Rahne thought as she growled at him again, causing him to back up a bit more.

Cassie started to calm down. As she caught her breath, she bent down to pat Rahne's head. Rahne stopped her growling but kept her eyes on Marco. Rachel raised her eyebrows.

"You know," she said, "I think I like this wolf! She doesn't like Marco either!" She walked over to pat Rahne's head as well. _I could get used to this!_ she thought. Just then, she heard something fluttering, like birds wings, then something that made her jump: a voice in her head.

Hey guys, it said, what's up?

At first she thought it was the Professor, but it 'sounded' like it was coming from the rafters of the barn. It also 'sounded' nothing like the Professor. The others obviously 'heard' it and acted like it was normal.

"Not much, Tobias," Rachel answered the 'voice'-Tobias. "This wolf bit Marco's ass, so we're rewarding her!"

"Hey!" came Marco's reply.

Um, o-kay, the mind-voice Rachel called "Tobias" said. Rahne looked up and saw a bird, a Red-Tailed Hawk to be exact. It was perched up in the rafters like it belonged there.

Cassie must've seen her staring, because she introduced them. "Wolfy, that's Tobias. Tobias, Wolfy." Rahne turned her attention to Cassie. _Wolfy?_Rahne thought. _What am I, a household pet? _The others were just as curious as Rahne, because they too stared. "What?" she asked. "Let's see you come up with a name!"

I didn't say anything! Tobias protested. Oh, by the way, Jake is on his way. He should be here soon. And Ax should be here shortly after. _How does he know that? _Rahne asked herself. _And who's Ax? There's no way... oh yeah. His eyes! _She remembered that hawks have eyesight ten times better than humans. Now that she was paying attention, she could hear his footsteps about twenty-feet away.

Then they all went back to their business. Marco took a seat on a hay-bale far away from Rahne; Rachel took a seat closer to Rahne and took out a history book, complaining about homework on a three day weekend; Tobias went back to watching the window (Rahne guessed he was basically their watchdog); and Cassie went back to the other animals. Rahne stood there looking from one to the other. She had seen a lot in her time at the Institute, but never had she seen talking birds before. This had to be the weirdest group (besides hers) that she ever saw.

Rahne heard the doors open again and heard Jake walk in. "Hey, guys," he said. They answered indifferently, not really paying attention. He smirked and as he walked over to see Cassie (much to Rahne's dismay), and he "accidentally" knocked Marco to the ground on his way(much to Rahne's joy). Everyone cracked up, except Marco of course. He winced as he fell on his already sore ass.

Jake stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Rahne. "I thought she was hurt," he said with confusion clear in his voice. "You fixed her?"

"Um, yeah," Cassie said nervously, being careful not to let anything slip. "One of the stitches got loose and I had to fix it. She's better now!"

"Yeah," Marco interjected. "Good enough to bite my ass!"

Jake laughed. "Cassie, your skill never ceases to amaze me!" They all started laughing again.

Then Rahne heard it, the clopping of hooves outside coming toward them.

Tobias saw "it" too, and said, Ax is coming. Man, he's in a hurry! No one's following him, but he's running like he's being chased by Visser Three!

They all stopped laughing and watched the door. Then, "it" burst through. It was blue, like Kurt, but it had no mouth. And its legs were replaced with the body of a horse. Its arms were kinda thin, and it had too many fingers (this is all you get in terms of descriptions!). Rahne couldn't believe what she was seeing. They all raised their eyebrows.

"Yo, Ax-man," Marco said, "what's the rush?"

I have been seen! it said with the same 'voice' as Tobias, with a slight difference, but Rahne couldn't place it. A blue creature and three humans saw me and then vanished in a puff of smoke!

Rahne perked her ears up. _"Blue creature?" _she thought. _That sounds like Kurt! I knew it, they are looking for me!_

"Did you see what they looked like?" Jake asked.

No, the creature… Ax… said. I thought I recognized the creature's voice, but I have never seen a creature like it before. It had a tail and very few fingers, although its tail did not look as deadly as mine. It looked more like it was for grabbing things like a monkey's tail. One human was a large male, and the other two were female, but I didn't see their faces long enough to recognize them. I believe one female had a strand of white in her hair, but I'm not sure.

Rahne was overjoyed. Even Rouge had gone to help search for her! They must really miss her. But knowing them, they probably forced her to come. But still, that Rouge actually came instead of draining them counts for something! Her thoughts were interrupted when Jake said what he said next:

"We have to find them! They're probably Yeerk spies!"

Rahne couldn't believe what she was hearing! She didn't know who these Yeerks were, but they must be pretty bad guys for this to be their reaction! Rahne had to find out who they were, so she could assure these people her friends weren't Yeerks...

Her thoughts were interrupted when the door opened again. It startled her. She thought since they were already discussing a battle plan they were all there. She was also startled by the fact that she wasn't getting a new scent. She turned to see who it was and, expecting Mystique with her advanced powers, was startled even more. It was some sort of dog thing with a hologram shimmering around it. Her eyes could always see through holograms, even Kurt's and Mr. McCoy's.

It looked like a big metallic dog on its hind legs. It definitely was not alive. She could still see the hologram, but just as a shimmering image. It looked at her and the hologram smiled, which probably meant the robot was smiling internally. It looked up at the others, the smile fading into a serious face.

"Sorry I'm late, guys," it said. "A bunch of vans with X's on them were heading back down the road and were taking up all the lanes. It was crazy!"

Rahne perked. Then she got an idea. If they were close enough maybe...

_Professor, _she mentally called to the Professor. _Can you hear me? _It took a few moments, but she got an answer.

Yes Rahne, I can hear you, he replied.

_Listen, can you track me? _she asked.

Yes, why?

_I want you to come here at midnight, I'll try to be out by then. And can you try to be discreet?_

We'll try Rahne. Don't worry.

Rahne felt relieved. Her original plan was to leave and wander aimlessly till she found the hotel, but now they were coming. Now all she had to do was listen to these guys and then leave.

***

Eric finally arrived. Just in time, too. The Animorphs almost got caught up in battle plans to remember why they were there. Eric had said he had important information for them. He said it might tip the balance in the war with the Yeerks.

"Its okay, Eric," Jake said. "We were just discussing something. You have some info for us?"

"Yeah," Eric said. "A mansion is being built on the edge of town. It's huge! But the Yeerks scanned it but there was some sort of electromagnetic interference around it. What they do know is that the security is very advanced."

"Really?" Jake asked. "Whoever these guys are, they could help us. Are you sure you don't know who lives there?"

"Well, I was put in charge of watching it. I saw a few kids walking around in the construction area. Weird thing is, one pushed something on his wrist and changed!"

"Into what?" Rachel asked.

"Some sort of blue monkey. It had three fingers on its hands and a weird tail."

I just saw such a creature! Ax said. It was spying on me!

"Wait," Cassie said. "When you say 'change,' do you mean 'morph?'?"

"No," Eric said. "I mean like a hologram switching off."

"Hm," Jake said, pondering. "This can't be a coincidence. We have to see if we can establish contact. But first, we need to know who lives there. I guess we'll have to wait till it's finished."

"Are we done here?" Marco asked impatiently. "I got tons of homework! That's what you get for having a teacher as your step-mom! What a way to spend a three day weekend!"

"Wait a sec," Rachel said. "You never do homework!"

"So?" he asked. "I still have it."

"You're unbelievable!" she said.

"And you're a b-!" he began.

"O-kay!" Cassie interjected before Rachel could rip Marco's throat out. "If that's everything then I'll be seeing you. I'm off to bed. It's getting late. Come on Wolfy," she said as she, with the wolf beside her, walked off.

The others said their good-bys, Rachel and Marco trying not to kill each other (and failing).

***

When they got to Cassie's room, Rahne was bushed (I like this word). She was glad to slip in a few hours of sleep. But she set her internal clock to wake a little before midnight.

When she was asleep she dreamt of the day's events: fighting the bear. Being slammed against the tree. The pain. Then it all went away when Cassie found her. Her dark hair, her beautiful eyes, her slender body, her…

She awoke abruptly. Her clock told her it was time to go. She looked around. She couldn't walk out the front door. She decided to climb out the window. She would just have to be careful when landing. She transformed into her human form. In the process she destroyed the splint. She stepped toward the window and stopped. To get to the window she would have to pass Cassie's bed. But it didn't look like she was waking any time soon. It looked like she was having a nightmare.

She tossed and turned, muttering. Rahne stepped forward to her. She looked down at the dark beauty as she tossed. Rahne then succumbed to her emotions and kissed her forehead. It worked! Cassie settled a little, but continued muttering. Rahne smiled and kissed her cheek. Now Cassie was completely still, and muttered less. Rahne, after working up the courage, kissed her squarely on the lips. Now Cassie was completely still and quiet. After a few seconds, Cassie unconsciously kissed back.

Rahne was in total bliss. Unfortunately, she had to break the kiss. She looked down at the now peaceful Cassie and smiled. She looked out the window and saw the Professor's car pull up.

She walked over to the window and pulled it open. She climbed through and took one last look at her dark skinned savior, and jumped. All those sessions in the danger room had made her good at landing on her feet.

She started down to the waiting car, and stopped to take one final look at the home of her savior. Then she turned and got into the car with the Professor beside her and Logan driving.

"Hey, kid," he said. "Have fun?"

"Mr. Logan, if you don't mind, I've had a long day and would like to sleep in my overcrowded hotel room," Rahne replied.

"Don't worry, Rahne," Xavier said. "Tomorrow the mansion will be finished and it'll just be you and Jubilee." (Jubilee is Rahne's roommate).

"Thanks, Professor," she said. Logan started the car and left. Rahne's mind wandered to Cassie. She wondered if she'll be at her school, and if they'll have any classes together.

She put those thoughts away for the moment. She had enough to think about. It certainly had been a weird meeting of sorts… and it was just getting started!

* * *

Well, I'm proud of myself. If you don't like it, well screw you and get out. If you did like it, review and tell me.

Any reviews are welcome. Suggestions, compliments, insults, confessions of true love, and uncontrollable lust are all welcome.

Current pairs: Tabitha/Amara, Kitty/Kurt, Rahne/Cassie, others will come to me. Can you guess which is the main one to the story line? If you can't, you obviously didn't read it!


	2. The Fight

**Disclaimer**: I don't own shit. Animorphs belongs to the writer and the publisher and X-Men: Evolution belongs to Marvel. I _do_ own the story line and the pairing.

**Warning**: The following story is fem-slash, and is not recommended for people with heart disease, liver problems, or homophobia (especially the latter).

**A/N**:

I would like to apologize for not updating. I've been busy and I _finally_ found the time to finish it. Hopefully it won't take this long for Chapter 3.

Anyway, I would like to address an issue:

Not too many reviews. Come on people, give me some help here! I need fresh ideas and outside opinions! I _know_ more people read than reviewed! Those of you that reviewed rock! Give me some ideas next time.

_**SPOILER!**_ I want to warn you so I don't offend anyone: this scene is one of the reasons this story's rated M. And it is _**NOT**_ a pleasant experience for her. It's rape, in case you're wondering. Or at least _attempted_ rape. Don't read if you don't like.

Oh, and I'm gonna see if I can make Kurt's accent a little, Germanyer. Just to see if I can.

Enjoy, or suffer! (yes, this is now my catchphrase)

* * *

**Chapter 2: The Fight**

Cassie had been having the usual nightmare: A termite growing in a tiny piece of wood. She cried for it to stop, hoping the others had gotten away. She continued to grow, then suddenly, a wave of warmy glowness (I love my articulation) spread through her. She began to grow slower and the wood seemed to expand. Then she felt it again, and then the wood was gone altogether. Then, she was floating in an endless white void that reminded her of Z-space, kissing the most beautiful girl she had ever seen. More beautiful than Rachel!

The girl had short red hair, and dazzling green eyes. Cassie had never felt this way about anyone, not even Rachel! She knew this was pure, unadulterated love. And from the way the red-haired girl was kissing her, she felt the same. Cassie _knew_ it was all a dream, but still… It was a _good_ dream! However, the dream-girl had a solid feel. Cassie pushed that thought away, and lost herself in the warmy glowness (love this phrase!).

Suddenly, she was alone. The warmy glowness feeling gone. Cassie forced herself into wakefulness. When she looked around, there was no one there. She felt a slight breeze and noticed the window was open. She walked over to it and saw a car driving away. She dismissed it as she closed the window.

When she went back to sleep, she had no more dreams. The dream-kiss had erased all chances of nightmares that night.

When she awoke again, she noticed that she felt strangely alone. She looked around and saw some red hair at the foot of her bed.

_*Gasp*! Wolfy!_ She looked around the whole room, but saw no sign of her. _Maybe she's downstairs?_ she thought. She opened the door and went downstairs where her parents were doing their usual things. Her mom was making dinner and watching Animal Planet, and her dad was reading National Geographic.

"Hey, Mom," Cassie said. "Have you seen Wolfy?"

"Not since last night. Why?" her mother asked.

"She wasn't there when I woke up. Dad, have you seen her?" she asked.

He looked up from National Geographic. "Same as your mother. What do you mean she wasn't there?"

"I mean she wasn't there!" Cassie said, clearly upset. "Gone! The door was closed, but she was gone!"

She stormed out. Obviously her interrogation of her parents was useless, they didn't know anything. Which was no more than usual for her, seeing as they suspected nothing of her other life.

She walked out to the barn, the most likely place Wolfy could be. Nothing. Nothing but the sick and wounded animals of the night before. She walked back to the house slowly, thinking about what could have happened to her. On her way she saw footprints on the ground. And they were not hers. As she studied them, she saw that there was only one set, and they were headed away from the house. If it had not been for the obvious human shape to them, she might have thought them to belong to Wolfy.

She wondered who's they were. They were too small to be either of her parent's. Hell, they were too small to be _hers_. She followed the prints and they ended at the road, leaving no visible tracks on the pavement. She wondered if it had anything to do with that car she heard the other night.

Her stomach growled and she decided to leave those thoughts for another time. Right now, her waffles were probably still a little warm, so she needed to hurry before they got cold…

***

"Rahne, are you _sure_ you want to go out so soon after returning?" Professor Xavier asked, the worry clearly visible on his face.

Rahne sighed. "Aye, Professor," she said. "I'm sure. Besides there are no bears at the mall, now are there? If there were, I would _never_ go there. Now, can I _**PLEASE**_ go now? The others are probably ready by now, and I don't want to get left behind!"

Xavier hesitated, and then gave his permission. If Rahne hadn't been in a hurry, she probably would've hugged the bald telepath. He rolled to the window and watched most of his students climb into a few cars to go to the mall. Some had been there the day before, but it had been cut short because of the search for Rahne.

Once they were gone, he felt a presence. He hadn't sensed it before because all the students had been there. But now there were only a handful of students left, so the presence stuck out like a sore thumb. He looked out the window and traced it to a Red-Tailed Hawk sitting in a tree. Usually he would have dismissed its presence, but it felt much more intelligent than other hawks. He scanned its mind, and nearly fell out of his chair.

It was intelligent. In fact it _used_ to be human. It had a name as well. And it had enemies. Powerful, dangerous enemies.

Xavier sent a mental "suggestion" to him, and he flew off in search of food. Xavier then turned his attention to Logan.

Logan, I need to speak with you, he said.

_This had better be _good_, Chuck,_ Logan thought to him angrily. _I'm _trying_ to fix my bike from the last time Rouge took it for a joyride._

It is of the gravest importance, Logan.

Xavier heard a mental sigh from the metal-boned mutant. _I'm on my way,_ he thought almost reluctantly.

After sending a similar message to Ororo and Hank, all the official "adults" of the mansion had assembled.

"Thank you all for coming," he told them. "Something has come to my attention. A few minutes ago we had an unusual visitor. He kept himself scarce because he didn't want us to know he was there. However he didn't count on a telepath being here. I took the liberty of scanning his mind and what I found was rather unsettling. His name is Tobias Hawking, and he is a member of a group that fights against an alien threat to Earth called Yeerks."

"Pull the other one," Logan said.

"Logan, I am quite serious," Xavier said sternly.

"Are you sure?" Ororo asked.

"What do they use to fight them?" Hank asked. "Alien technology? Are they mutants? Do they have allies with other races?"

"In order," Xavier said, "yes, no, and yes. They use a type of technology by a race called Andalites to fight them. In fact, that technology is what allowed Tobias to infiltrate us so easily."

"What does it do?" Logan asked.

"It is a genetic technology that allows whoever obtains it to become any animal they can touch. Tobias was in the form of a Red-Tailed Hawk when he came here. However it does have its downsides. One can only be in the form for up to two hours, no more. If you do, you remain permanently trapped in that form. And you can't change from one form to another. You have to change to your natural form, then change."

"Even with the downsides," Hank said, "the technology's amazing! I would like to study it."

"There is one more downside," Xavier said. "In order to become an animal, you must first touch the animal and absorb its DNA. Meaning becoming fighting animals is very dangerous."

"What about that time limit?" Hank asked. "Are you sure there's no way around that?"

"Quite sure," Xavier said solemnly. "The reason I'm sure is, in the early days of the battle with the Yeerks, Tobias had to hide in the hawk form he's in now, and was trapped."

"How sad," Ororo said.

"How old are these guys?" Logan asked.

"Surprisingly, they are about the same age as the average student here," Xavier said.

"What?!" Logan said. "You mean to tell me the Earth's in the hands of a bunch of kids?!"

"Do their parents know?" Ororo asked.

"No, they do not," Xavier said. "They are still unsure of whom they can trust. They already identified their leader's brother as one of them, as well as the principle of the school they attend."

"What school _do_ they attend?" Ororo asked.

"The same one our students are going. I've already identified one of them. She's the one who saved Rahne when she was missing. In fact they had a meeting about _us_."

"Do they know what we are?" Hank asked.

"No. Only that we have what they and their enemies consider advanced electro-magnetic cloaking. They have a spy on the inside and were able to find out that we were building underground as well."

"How much did you scan of this kid's mind, anyway?" Logan asked.

"A relatively small percent, considering all they've encountered. I just focused on the technology they use and recent events."

"Is he still here," Hank asked.

"No. I placed a mental suggestion in his mind so he would search for food. However, once he realizes this notion is false, he will return, more curious than ever. I would like to speak with him and learn about these Yeerks from him himself rather than invade his mind take what I want like a pirate. No if I did that I would be no better than Magneto. Logan, when he returns I want you to talk to him and bring him here."

"_**ME?!**_" the clawed mutant asked. "Why _me_? How am _I_ supposed to bring him here? What about Storm? Why does it have to be me?"

"Because I said so," Xavier said firmly, leaving no room for argument. "When he returns it will be at that tree." He pointed at the large oak tree by the outer wall through the window. "Go there and wait for him." Logan growled and grudgingly walked out to wait. "Ororo, Hank, I would like to speak with him alone this time."

"Of course, Professor," Ororo said. She and Hank got up to leave when Ororo remembered something. "Oh, someone will need to go buy some food. We don't have much and I doubt it'll last long."

"I'll get Logan on that when he's sent Tobias to me." With that the other two left, leaving Xavier to think about the questions he would ask when he spoke with Tobias. This would certainly be interesting.

***

When Tobias decided to get some food, he also thought he should tell Jake what he had seen so far.

He spotted him walking out of his house and waited till he was a good bit away from it to talk to him, so there was no chance of Tom hearing them. They had known Tom was a Yeerk from the beginning, though Jake had some trouble admitting it then. In fact, he still had some trouble dealing with that now. Once he was a good ways from the house, Tobias perched on a lamppost and called Jake.

Hey Jake. How's it going? he asked.

Jake looked up to look at him. "Good. Cassie called to tell me Wolfy's disappeared."

Really? How'd that happen?

"Don't know," he said. "She said she woke up and she was just gone."

Weird. Anyway, I wanted to tell you what I've seen so far at that mansion.

"Okay, what'd you find out?" Jake asked.

First, it's finished. Second, it's some type of school or something. Tobias said.

"What do you mean?"

A lot of kids live there. Most of them about our age. Remember those guys we saw at the mall yesterday?

"Yeah."

Well they live there too! There's about three adults. One is a rough looking guy, another is this African woman, and the other is a bald guy in a wheel chair. So far I haven't found anything of major interest. 

"You came all this way to tell me _that_?" Jake asked, confused. This was good info, but he could've waited until the scheduled switch time to tell that.

Actually I was hungry and decided to tell you what I've found before I ate.

"Didn't you eat right before you went there?" Jake asked, even more confused. Hawks didn't just get hungry on a whim like people.

Tobias thought about this information. Whoa, you're right! That's weird.

"What happened?" Jake asked.

I was there for a while, then most of them took off for the mall or something. Then there was this buzzing in my head and then the thought crossed my mind that I was hungry. Tobias informed him.

"Must've been some sort of reaction to the EM field. Be careful when you go back," the fearless leader of the Animorphs said.

I will. Hey, how're things going with Cassie? Tobias asked. He was curious if Cassie had told him yet.

"Great!" Jake said with a smile. "I asked her out yesterday before the meeting, but Wolfy needed more care so I asked about next Saturday. She said rain-check, but that's another way of saying yes, right? I mean, that's what Marco told me."

You should know better than to listen to Marco, man! Tobias said, a bit disappointed. He had known about Cassie for a while now. In the early days of the Animorphs, he had seen her sneaking glances at Rachel. He had found that odd, but didn't piece it together until he accidentally overheard her telling Rachel the truth. Tobias, in turn, told Ax, who didn't seem surprised. Apparently, such a thing is common on his planet, and he was curious if it was forbidden amongst humans. No one had told Jake because Cassie said she wanted to do that herself, and no one told Marco because they all knew what he would do.

Anyway, he said, I gotta get back. Good luck with Cassie. _Cassie, tell him soon._

With that he flew off toward the mansion. When he got there he noticed the large gruff leaning against his tree. Tobias decided to ignore him being there but kept his eye on him. The gruff man glanced up at him and mumbled something. Then he reached into a bag he had with him and pulled out a bottle of water. Tobias looked around to see if there was anything worth seeing. He saw a girl arguing on the phone (though it looked like she was talking to the phone itself and not someone on the line) and two girls making out in a statue garden. He did a double take of the latter. _Hm, guess I know where _three_ lesbians live!_

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of metal cutting plastic. He looked at the gruff man and saw the bottle with the top cut off. The man downed the drink with the top in the other hand. Once he was done he gave a satisfied grunt and threw both the bottle and the top into the nearest recycle bin, which wasn't hard since there were dozens of them around so he didn't even have to get off the tree. Having finished that he looked up at Tobias and said, "I was wondering when you were gonna get here, kid."

Tobias nearly fell out of the tree at hearing that. _Is he talking to _me_?_ he wondered. He considered flying off but decided to pretend he didn't hear him.

When he didn't respond the guy said, "Hey, don't try playin' the dumb animal routine on me, Tobias! The Professor just wants to talk to ya."

Tobias was shocked when he heard his name. _Well, if he knows, might as well ask._ How do you know my name? Tobias asked.

"I can do better than that," he said. "You're trapped in that bird form because of the stupid time limit on your morphing power, you and your kid friends are fighting against an alien invasion and your leader's brother is on the other side."

_How can he know all that?!_ Who are you? What do you want? Tobias asked.

"It's not what _I_ want, kid," the man said. "It's what the Professor wants. And he wants to talk to ya personally."

Ok, where is he? How do I talk to him? Tobias asked.

Then the man looked distracted, like he was listening to something else. He growled a little like he heard something he didn't like. Then he was back and said, "The window's open. It's the big one up there." He pointed and sure enough, there was a large two door window open. "Now if you'll excuse me, I apparently got some shopping to do." With that the man walked toward the garage mumbling about kids eating too much.

Tobias took flight towards the open window, still wondering if this was a good idea. When inside, he saw a perch on the other side of the room. Obviously he had been expected. He flew over and perched in a way so that he could see the large desk that was he flew over to get there. When there, he saw the old bald man in the wheelchair he had seen sitting behind the desk.

The man smiled a warm smile and looked at Tobias. "Welcome, Tobias. I hope Logan didn't scare you."

Kinda. he said. What's that guy's deal, anyway?

"He is a violent man, with a good and caring heart," the man said.

_Reminds me of Rachel._ Tobias thought to himself.

"I don't know who Rachel is, but she must be violent to be like Logan," the man said with a smile.

You can read my mind?! Tobias said, shocked.

"Yes." I can do many things with my mind.

Whoa, and I thought we were the only ones who could do that! Tobias said. How do you know so much about me?

"I took the liberty of reading your mind when you were here earlier," he said. "I think I have a right to know who is spying on my school."

Yeah, sorry about that. Tobias said, a little embarrassed. Lucky for him hawks can't blush.

"No matter," he said. "On to business. My name is Professor Charles Xavier. And this is my school for mutants."

"Mutants"? What's a mutant? Tobias asked.

"A mutant is someone born with unique talents that set them apart from other people. They have a special gene called the X-gene, which is dormant in most people. Mutants are simply people born with an active X-gene. The X-gene, however, doesn't truly reveal itself until the teen years, in a state of stress."

So, it's like a puberty thing? Tobias asked.

Xavier smiled. "Something like that."

So, wait. Let me get this straight: everyone in this _entire_ school is a mutant?

"Yes," Xavier said matter-of-factly.

...HOW MANY MUTANTS ARE THERE?! Tobias nearly screamed. There were a lot of people in this school, and he shuddered to think how many others there were.

"Many," Xavier said gravely. "And unfortunately, not all of them are good. Some of them, like my former colleague Eric Lehnsherr, also known as Magneto, have a certain distaste for humanity. But that isn't why I asked you here, Tobias. It is because I feel this alien threat may threaten the welfare of my students. But before I make that assumption, I need you to tell me everything you know about them. In turn, I'll tell you everything there is to know about us."

This might take a while. Tobias said.

***

When the students got to the mall, those that hadn't gone were as amazed as those who had gone the day before. Tabitha and Amara decided to stay home this time, seeing as they now had more room to do whatever it is they do (hint hint).

When they got inside, they stared in amazement at the size of the inside. To some of them, it looked bigger on the inside than the out.

"Wow," Kitty said, suddenly feeling small. "_This_ is their mall?"

"_Ja_," Kurt said. "Vould you like to see zhe food court? Zhey have zhe most delicious cinnamon bun place I have ever tasted!"

Kitty smiled at her boyfriend's cinnamon bun obsession. "Sure, Kurt! I'd love to!"

Kurt smiled and led her to the food court. A few of the others followed, including Rahne, Jubilee, Rouge (who, after much convincing and drain threats, decided to come this time), Scott, and Peter. The others (Ray, Bobby, Sam, Roberto and Jean) decided to go their separate ways and see what else was there. Personally Ray, Bobby and Sam hoped there was an arcade for them to check out, Roberto decided to look for girls, while Jean hoped there was a book store.

When the ones that went with Kurt got to the food court (there wasn't as much distress or headache this time), they split up for a second to get their food. Kurt was surprised when he saw the people they had seen the other day, sitting at the same table as last time. The only difference was two of the guys were missing and there was an African American girl with them this time. And Ax wasn't eating yet.

"Zhat's zhe guy I vas tell you about, Kitty," Kurt said, pointing at Ax.

"That's him?" she asked.

"Yep! Vanna go meet zhem?" he asked.

"Sure!"

They walked over to them and Kurt was the first to speak. "Vell, vell, vell. If it isn't mein arch enemy!" he said, smirking a little. "Ax, right? Remember me?"

Ax looked up at him and smiled a little. "Yes. Yeeesssss. YYYYYesssss. Sssss. I remember you. Member. Remmmmemmmmberrrrr."

Kitty looked a little shocked. "Does he, like, _always_ do that?" she asked.

"Unfortunately, yeah," the blonde girl of the other group said. "We don't know how to stop him! I'm Rachel by the way. Nice to meet you!" She stuck out a hand for her to shake.

Kitty took it and shook. "Kitty Pryde. Nice to meet you too! I'm Kurt's girlfriend."

"Dude, you got good taste!" the smallish one of the other group said. "Although I might have gone for one _without_ the vallygirl accent." Saying that earned him a killing glare from Rachel. "But that's just me!" he added quickly. "I'm Marco. Are you new around here? I haven't seen you before."

"Yeah, we, like, just moved into town," Kitty said. "The school board is having a meeting because there's going to be a lot more students now. That's why school's out on Monday."

"So, wait," Marco said. "_You're_ the reason school's out?"

"Yep," Kitty said.

Suddenly she was almost choking when Marco somehow managed to grow enough to wrap his arms around her breathing area. "_**THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!**_" he almost screamed.

"Yo, man!" Kurt yelled, yanking him off. "Hands off zhe girlfriend!"

"Sorry," Marco said, blushing a little. "I just _really_ appreciate it!"

"Wow," Rachel said. "'Appreciate.' That's a big word! Congratulations!"

"Shut up, _Xena_!" he said. Then when he tried to sit down he winced. "Damn butt! I hate dogs!"

"She was a _wolf_," Rachel corrected. "Not a dog, Marco. I think that's what made her bite you to begin with!"

"I didn't think she could understand me!" he cried, managing to sit down again.

Kitty heard a giggle from behind her and saw it was Rahne. Kitty thought it was kinda funny too, so ignored it. She turned her attention on the last one of the other group: the African American girl. Kitty noticed a somewhat sad look on her face.

"Hey, why the long face?" Kitty asked.

The girl glanced up at her. "I-It's nothing," she said.

"She's upset because the same wolf that bit Marco disappeared sometime last night," Rachel said. "I'm kinda bummed too because _that_ won't be happening again, and I am _not_ biting his butt myself!"

"You know you wanna!" Marco teased.

"Shut up," Rachel said simply. "That's Cassie by the way. Her family's barn heals wounded wild animals and then sets them free. That's how she found the wolf. It showed up yesterday and she fixed it. Healed pretty quickly from what she told me. And she had the most _amazing_ green eyes! And her fur was the reddest I've ever seen!"

At that, the X-Men took sideways glances at Rahne. But she didn't notice. Or if she did, she didn't care. She was busy watching Cassie intently. _Did my leaving affect her _this_ much?_ she wondered as she observed her savior's sad state.

"Well good riddance I say!" Marco said, rising a little to rub his sore ass. "I'm gonna have trouble sitting for weeks!"

"Marco," Rachel said. "Go fuck yourself." Her friends stared at her agape, the X-Men too. "What?" she asked.

"She kinda reminds me of Mr. Logan," Kitty muttered. Her friends nodded their sentiment.

"Introductions aside," Kurt said, changing the subject in what he hoped was a positive direction. "Ready for round two, Ax?"

Ax smiled. "Yesssss. Yeeeeesssssss. Sssssssss. I ammmm."

Kurt went over to get the food trays and encountered the same counter person (sorry, don't know what their called) as before. "Hey, I remember you!" the guy said. "You know you had an advantage since he had already eaten a lot, right?"

"Zhat's vhy ve're having round two!" Kurt told him. "Now can you get our food and stop trying to ruin my day?"

***

While the Kurt guy looked like he was restraining himself from a murder charge, Rachel got a call from her mother.

"Hello?... Oh, hi Mom.... No, I'm not busy...._**WHAT?!**_... Come _on_ Mom! Can't you get one of the neighbors?... What do you mean they're all busy?!... But I... Fine! I'm on my way. I'll be there in a few minutes!" She hung up. She couldn't believe it! She was going to miss round two of the greatest cinnamon bun eating contest in the _world_, all because her mother couldn't find a decent babysitter while she went to court. Just her luck!

"Sorry, guys," she said. "Mom says I gotta babysit the brats."

"Hm," Marco pondered. "Xena on babysitting duty? I feel sorry for them! Don't throw your chakram at them, I think you'll get in trouble for that!"

Rachel gave a good kick to his chair, causing him to fall on his sore ass. "_**OW!!**_" he cried. She smiled as she walked away, saying her goodbyes to Cassie and their new friends.

As she walked out, she noticed a rather odd group headed the opposite way: a white haired scrawny kid, a big fat guy, a hunched smelly guy, a girl in red, and a bad-boy. But she ignored them, as they did her. But the guys did run their eyes down her backside when they passed her. She turned around and gave them the finger, and the red girl grabbed them by their ears (two in each hand if you can picture it!) and dragged them off.

Once she was out she noticed that the parking lot was strangely empty. There were only cars filling the lot. She looked around and saw a group of thugs hanging out on the wall. She was nervous because the way home meant going past those guys, and the way they eyed her made her _more_ nervous. She repressed her fear and walked toward them. _If they try anything, I just do a half morph thing and scare them!_ she thought._ It worked before, it can work again!_

She walked past them without being bothered. At first she thought she was safe, but then she heard them following her. _No problem,_ she thought. _Just keep walking and when you turn the corner run for it. They aren't even going that fast anyway!_ Indeed, they were going a little slow, as though they were trying to keep quite. But she knew better. She always had a keen sense about these things. They had something planned.

When she turned the corner, she found out what! There were more guys there waiting for her! She tried to make a break for it, but they grabbed her from all sides. The ones behind her caught up and assisted, except for one who seemed to be the boss. Some grabbed her arms and legs, while others just grabbed what looked nice.

"Goin' somewhere, gorgeous?" he asked, in a nonchalant way.

Rachel struggled, but they had her. "Yeah," she said. "_Home_!"

He smiled. "Beautiful in body _and_ voice! Nice. And no, you're not goin' home. Not yet!"

She glared at him, feeling the adrenaline rushing through her. She let out a low growl, startling her captors. She growled whenever she was really angry or stress, feeding Marco's teasing about her being some sort of wild animal inside her beautiful body. He said on occasion that she liked the morphing because it takes her closer to what she was meant to be. She hated when he did that.

The leader just smirked at her. "It seems we got us a fighter, eh boys?" he asked. They responded by laughing a little and feeling her up. She considered screaming, but then she felt a hand over her mouth. "Now we don't want you to cause a commotion. We just wanna have a little _fun_!" He then reached down for the zipper of his pants.

She considered doing the elephant thing she had done the last time something like this happened, only then they hadn't been holding on to her. They she felt the cold blade of a knife on the back of her neck and froze, her eyes widening.

"Don't be afraid," the leader said. "Mitch won't hurt you unless _I_ say so. So as long as you cooperate, you'll be just fine. A little broken, but alive." He then pulled out a seven-inch long dick. She stared at it, her eyes beginning to tear up. She was finally understanding the magnitude of her situation. She couldn't morph something big to scare them without jamming that knife into her skull, and she couldn't morph small to try and escape because if he saw something wrong, he would have her killed. She was trapped, and there was no one to save her.

He took a step closer and the men holding her began to feel her more vigorously. One of them even reached under her shirt and groped her breasts. Another lower one reached up her skirt and played with her pussy. She began to squirm a little, squealing as she still tried to escape. She looked as the leader came closer, and the head of the dick almost reaching for her.

When he reached her, the guy with his hand over her mouth removed it. But before she could scream, something else clogged her mouth. She stared up at him with pleading, tearful eyes. But when she did, all she saw was evil lust.

"You bite, you die, whore!" he said to her. She nodded in teary agreement. She slowly began to suck on the intruding member as he thrust it deeper into her mouth. He groaned in satisfaction and thrust harder, causing her to gag for a second, but a look from him forced her to continue. Tears were streaming down her face as she was groped relentlessly as she sucked on the unwanted member.

She felt her shirt lifted up and her bra ripped off so that her breasts were in full view. Several hands fought for them as they groped and kneaded them. She also felt the hand playing with her pussy push aside her panties for better access. If she hadn't been scared before, she was now. She was going to be ravaged and there was nothing she could do about it.

Suddenly, she felt the member get pulled out of her mouth, only to be replaced by the hand again.

"Good," the leader said. "Now lift her up, boys. I want to see just how innocent she is!" They did as they were told, though electing a groan from the guy who had been playing with her pussy.

They lifted her up so they were keeping her off the ground and spread her legs in a spread eagle of sorts. He positioned himself in front of her and was about to take away her innocence, when a voice said:

"_**HEY, WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!?!**_"

She turned her head so she could see who had spoken. It was a rather large, gruff man with his hair sticking up a little on the sides. He was wearing dark leather like a biker. The one thing even a blind man could notice about this man was: he was _**PISSED**_!

The leader looked over at him and sneered. "This ain't your problem, _old man_!" he yelled at him.

The man growled like Rachel had, only much louder and more frightening. This caused Rachel's holders to flinch.

"It is now, _kid_!" the man said to him. They had no idea who they were messing with!

***

Logan had just picked up the food the Professor asked him to buy after he sent Tobias to him. When he got to his bike he heard a sound. It sounded like squealing. Like muffled screaming against a hand.

He sniffed the air and sure enough, there were elevated hormones coming from nearby. He sniffed and smelt sweat, sex, and fear. He knew each scents well enough, since he lived at a school full of hormone driven teens that fought battle simulations in the Danger Room. But all of them mixed together meant one thing: rape.

He followed the scent and got there just as the guy pulled out of her mouth and told them to lift her. He looked at her and watched the look in her eyes to see if this wasn't some weird, voluntary sex game. But the look in her eyes erased that notion. She was _terrified_. _Hm,_ he thought to himself. _They always seem to go for the blonde ones with blue eyes. Can't these idiots try something original?_ He decided to stop it before it went any farther.

Which brings us to now.

Logan was staring down the tugs as they attempted to do the same. The girl watched intently and Logan could've sworn he'd seen her somewhere before.

But he pushed that aside as the leader came to his senses and told two of his boys to attack Logan. The two groaned because the places they were holding weren't for restraining her. They got up and pulled out their weapons: brass knuckles and a lead pipe.

The first one to attack was the brass knuckle guy. First he punched Logan in the stomach, then across the face with his other fist, throwing Logan to the ground facing away. Logan had decided to play along with the first few punches before he really got started. He started to get up, acting as though he were straining.

He heard the man coming, and just before the punch hit, Logan quickly turned around and intercepted the fist with his own. There was a metal clang as brass hit adamantium. The punch put a major dent in the brass knuckles and broke the man's hand. Logan then threw another punch into the man's face, sending him flying back. He landed at the feet of the lead pipe guy. The guy looked down at his friend and then at Logan, and then at his friend's hand.

Drawing up courage, the man charged Logan and brought the pipe down on Logan as hard as he could. The blow, though causing a little headache, did little damage, as did the knuckles. It did, however, put a dent in the pipe.

Logan growled. _Now_ he was annoyed. _Time to end this!_ he thought. He drew out his claws and slashed at the pipe, cutting it down to size. The man looked at the pipe and backed up to the rest of the group, the leader of which was noted to have gone flaccid out of fear.

Logan stood up and growled again. "Who wants some?" he asked, drawing out the claws of his other hand. The thugs considered. Then, sharing the same thought, took off running, yelling about monsters and freaks. This didn't bother Logan, for he'd heard worse.

He hurried to the blonde girl, who had been simply dropped in the rush. He helped her to a sitting position. "Are you ok?" he asked.

The girl looked at him, then burst into tears. "I couldn't stop them! There were too many! I wasn't strong enough!" She threw her arms around him and cried.

Logan, rather shocked at this, hesitantly returned the embrace. _The girl was almost raped,_ he thought to himself. _She's emotional. And she needs comfort. I could've sworn I've seen her somewhere!_

She cried for about two minutes, before pulling herself together. After releasing him, she stood up and fixed her shirt and skirt.

"You gonna be ok, kid?" Logan asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," she said, still a little shaky.

"You want me to call the cops for you?" Logan asked, wanting to make sure she was fine.

"No," she said. "Thanks, but no. I'll be fine. Really. I've been through worst, trust me. I'm Rachel, by the way." She stuck out her hand for him to shake.

Logan took it. "Name's Logan," he said. "Listen, if you ever need anything, I live up at that new mansion that way." He pointed at the mansion, slightly visible on the horizon. "Got it?"

"You live up at the mansion?" she asked, suddenly intrigued.

"Yeah. You heard of it?" he asked.

"Kind of," she said. "A friend of mine told me about it yesterday."

Logan grunted a little. "Anyway, if you need me, just ask for Logan, or Wolverine. Got it?"

"'Wolverine?'" she asked.

"Long story," he said. "Don't ask. You got it or not?"

"Yeah," she said. "Got it. I gotta be getting home anyway. I'm _way_ late!" With that she turned and took off. She paused a moment and looked back at him and waved. "Bye, Mr. Logan! Thanks for saving me!" And then she took off again.

Logan watched her leave, wondering where he had seen her before. He couldn't remember anything past ten years ago, thanks to Stryker and his stupid Weapon-X project. He let it go and went back to the bike. He dreaded having to explain why he was late.

***

Things were running smoothly. Kurt was losing the bun eating contest, no one was using their powers, and no one was attacking them. All was well.

That is, until the Brotherhood showed up.

Lance has been sore ever since Kitty broke up with him. While he used to be able to tolerate them at school, he now despised every fiber of their being.

"Well, well, well," Pietro said as they walked up to them. "If it isn't the X-Geeks."

"Friends of yours?" Marco asked Kurt.

"Hardly," he said, wiping his mouth of the cinnamon. "Vhat do you losers vant?"

"Watch who you're talking to, you blue monkey!" Lance said, grabbing Kurt by his shirt.

"Lance! Leave him alone!" Kitty said, tearing her ex-boyfriend off her current boyfriend.

"I still can't believe you dumped me for that loser, Kitty," Lance said.

"Ex-boyfriend?" Marco asked the person nearest him.

That person being Rahne, who had been edging closer to Cassie. "Aye, you have no idea," she told him. "She used to have a thing for him, but when they were actually together, she left him for Kurt. I hear when she first moved to the mansion back in Bayville, he had a little crush on her."

"Lucky him," he said. "Are you Irish?"

"_Scottish_," she corrected him. "Jeez, is it _that_ hard to tell the difference?!" For a moment she considered biting his ass again, but decided it would look too weird. Luckily for Rahne, the commotion had drawn Cassie out of her fantasy land.

Cassie looked over at Marco and Rahne, and froze when she saw Rahne.

Rahne took advantage of her attention to talk to her.

"Hi," she said, sticking out her hand. "What's your name again?"

Cassie half-mindedly took the hand and said something really intelligent. "Uh."

Rahne giggled as she did most of the shaking. Had this been the first time she had seen Cassie, neither one would have been able to say anything to each other.

"Nice to meet you, Uh. My name is Rahne," she said.

Cassie blinked and shook herself out of her daze. "I'm Cassie," she said. "Nice to meet you." She noticed Rahne's casted arm. "What happened?" she asked.

Rahne shrugged. "I can be a klutz sometimes," she said.

Then Cassie noticed the fight that was beginning to accumulate among Rahne's friends and the Brotherhood. "Did I miss something?"

"I feel like that a lot," Marco said under his breath.

"My friend Kitty dumped Lance for my other friend Kurt, and Lance is still a little sore," Rahne informed her.

"Come on, Lance," Pietro said. "He ain't worth it. We'll settle this some other time, X-Geeks!"

Lance, however, had other ideas. While the rest of the Brotherhood turned to leave, he decided to take charge and tackled Kurt.

"LANCE!" Kitty cried. She rushed over to pull him off when a hand clamped down on her shoulder. She turned and saw Wanda standing there.

"Going somewhere?" she asked.

"If Lance's gonna get in trouble," Pietro said, "we're gettin' in trouble too!"

With that they paired off. Pietro took on Scott, Freddy took on Peter, Todd (much to his distress) was targeted by Rogue, while the Wanda took on Kitty. Jubilee took off to find the others, and Rahne started towards Kitty.

However, a hand grabbed her good arm and stopped her. She turned and saw Cassie standing there.

"You can't go fight," she said. "Not with that arm."

"But-" Rahne started.

However Cassie wouldn't have it. "You're in no condition to fight," she said, worried. "Your friend went off for help, so right now we wait."

Rahne didn't like it. These were her friends, her family. She couldn't just sit by while they fought. But Cassie's grip on her arm would have none of it.

Soon enough, Jubilee returned with the others, as well as security. After Ray, Sam and Roberto pulled Lance off Kurt (who was being choked), security pulled him away. Seeing the reinforcements, the rest of the Brotherhood decided to bail. However they were intercepted by more security. Not wanting to reveal mutants to the world yet, they went along.

"I'll get you, you blue-furred freak!" Lance yelled at Kurt as they were hauled off. "Then I'll Kitty regret having broken up with me by breaking your neck!"

After they were gone, Jean and the others wanted to know what they missed. While they were getting the rundown, Rahne realized Cassie was still holding her arm.

"Um, Cassie?" she said. "The fight's over. You can let go now." However she was in no hurry to have her let go.

Cassie blushed at this realization, and quickly let go. "Oh! Uh, sorry!" she said.

Rahne giggled a bit. "It's no problem," she said. Then she turned to her friends who had fought. "Are you guys alright?" she asked them.

"Yeah, like, no problem," Kitty said, holding her arm. Kitty turned to Cassie. "Cassie, right? Nice call not letting Rahne fight," she told her.

Cassie blushed a little. "No problem," she said.

Scott got everyone's attention. "Hey guys," he said. "Maybe we should head home. We've caused enough damage today as it is." The others nodded their agreement.

Rahne turned to Cassie again. "Well, I guess I'll see you later?" she asked.

Cassie blushed. "Uh, yeah!" she said. "Of course!"

With that said, Rahne turned and left with the others.

***

Seeing her go was almost as hard as finding out Wolfy was gone for Cassie. She had looked _exactly_ like the girl from her dream! And she had the same eyes as Wolfy.

When they were gone, the Animorphs looked around the food court. It was trashed! There were tables turned upside down, tables that were broken, food everywhere, and trash spilling out of trashcans.

Jake walked up and looked around. "Um, did I miss anything?" he asked.

"Yeah!" Marco said. "Remember those guys from yesterday? The ones with the guy that beat Ax in that contest? They came back! Apparently they live at the new mansion. And they found the girl that was missing, too. Anyway, apparently Kurt's girlfriend dumped some other guy. His name was Lance and he was _pissed_! He and his buddies showed up when Ax and Kurt were having a rematch. Then suddenly, Lance jumps Kurt and starts strangling him! The others paired off and they were duking it out! It was _**AWSOME**_! If Kurt's other friends hadn't shown up with security, Lance would've killed him! You should've seen it! Also, Lance kept calling Kurt blue-boy, or something like that. Weird, huh?"

"Yeah," Jake said, taking another look around. "Man, they really trashed this place, huh? Anyway, I'm not surprised they live at the mansion. Tobias already told me."

"Tobias left his post?" Ax asked. "Pooooost. Ssssst."

"He said he was hungry, but then he remembered he had eaten before he went there. We figured it must've been a reaction to the EM field."

"Your assumption is probably correct, Prince Jake," Ax said.

"Don't call me 'Prince,'" Jake said automatically. Then he noticed Cassie standing there, still staring. "Hey, Cassie, you alright?" he asked her.

She stared blankly for a moment. Then she blinked and shook herself out of it. "Huh, what?" she asked.

"You were staring," Jake told her. "You alright?" he asked again.

"Oh, yeah," she said. "I'm fine." She looked in the direction she had last seen Rahne. Except maybe Rachel, she had never felt this way about anybody. Being around her made Cassie's heart flutter, and the butterflies in her stomach go crazy and filled her with a sense of warmy glowness.

Jake, however, just thought she was still sad about Wolfy. "Look, Cassie," he said. "If you want we can go looking for Wolfy."

"No, I'll be fine," she told him. She decided it _still_ wasn't time to tell him. "Look, why don't we all go home. I'm a little tired and I also need to feed the animals."

"Ok," Jake said. "Look, if you ever want to talk, I'm here, ok?"

She looked at him, and saw the care in his eyes. This made her feel even worse. "Thanks," she said simply, and turned and walked away.

The others followed closely behind.

Once they were outside, they separated. Ax hid and demorphed, then morphed to his owl form. Marco walked with Cassie, since his house was on the way to hers, though not as far, and Ax flew above them since the forest was beyond her house. She didn't mind walking. She needed to think.

"You know, Cassie," Marco joked as they walked. "The way you were staring at Rahne, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were gay!" She said nothing, just continued walking. "What, aren't you gonna deny it?" he asked, somewhat confused. "Call me an idiot? Punch me in the face? Kick me in the balls and call me a pervert for saying that?" Still, she said nothing. "Wait, you aren't, are you?"

She glanced at him, but said nothing.

Then he caught on. "Wait a second!" he said, stopping. Cassie stopped too, and Ax perched on a lamppost. "I thought you had a thing for Jake!"

"No," she said. "I don't. I never did."

It is true, Ax said from his perch.

"Wait another second," Marco said. "_You _knew? Who else knows?"

"Tobias and Rachel," Cassie told him. "The reason I hung out with you and Jake was because I had a crush on Rachel. I made it look like I liked Jake so she wouldn't suspect. I was nervous about how she would react. Not long ago, I told her. She didn't hate me for it, and she didn't stop being my friend. She did tell me that she didn't like me like that, and that I should tell Jake. Tobias had accidentally overheard them talking and we made him swear not to tell Jake. I wanted to tell him myself."

Tobias told me, and made me swear the same. Ax said.

"But why didn't anyone tell _me_?" Marco asked. "Why didn't _I_ find out?"

"Because you're an idiot," Cassie said. "And everyone knew you'd make fun of me."

Marco thought for a moment. "Look," he said eventually. "I may make jokes a lot, but I know when to be serious. I'm not gonna make a big deal about this. It's not that big a deal. I won't tell Jake, but you should. The longer you wait, the more it'll hurt him when you tell him. And of course I'm gonna make jokes. I joke about everyone, remember? I'll try not to make them hurtful, and I'll try to refrain when Jake's around. But when you tell him, and you _will_ tell him, I'll support you."

She looked at him and smiled. "I think that's the most words you've said in a row without complaining about something," she joked. "And thank you. That means a lot."

"Any time," he said. "Now let's get moving. I don't live that far from here, and you got some walkin' to do."

Wait, Ax said. I just remembered. I have to switch with Tobias to watch the mansion. Goodbye. And he flew the other direction.

With that out of the way, they continued. Now Jake was the only one on the _**entire**_ team that didn't know about Cassie. She smiled at Marco's promise of support. Now that she thought about it, she had support from almost the entire team to back her up. Maybe telling Jake wouldn't be so hard with friends like them backing her up!

***

Now that Tobias had told Xavier everything he knew, and Xavier had told him everything they had been through and about mutants, Tobias noticed it was almost the switch time.

Well, Professor, it was nice meeting you. Tobias said. Maybe we can talk again. My schedule's usually clear.

Xavier smiled. "Yes. I would like you to meet the other adults. You already know Logan, and Hank would like to study your technology a bit."

Sure, Tobias said. I'm coming tomorrow again to "spy" on you, so I can meet them then.

"That would be splendid," Xavier said.

Well, I gotta get going. Ax'll be here soon. With that, he flew out.

Good luck, Tobias. he heard Xavier say in his head. And don't tell your friends about us. Not yet. He agreed and flew back to the tree and waited for Ax.

When he got there, Ax informed him of Marco and Cassie's conversation. Tobias was glad Marco had taken it well, cause it meant Jake might not take that bad. After that, he lied about not having seen much.

With that, he took off towards home. He had a lot to process and needed some sleep. Also, he was actually hungry.

**

* * *

**

**A/N: **Well? What'd you think? You have no idea how long it took me to write this! I would like reviews as soon as humanly possible, and I'll be starting on the next chapter as soon as I get more time. I'm a busy person, you know!

ONE MORE THING! Reminder. Any and all reviews are welcome. Suggestions, compliments, insults, confessions of true love, and uncontrollable lust, the usual. But please, do post! They fill me with a sense of warmy glowness!

ONE MORE THING! BTW, warmy glowness is mine, and I don't wanna see anyone using it without my permission! Get it, got it, good!


	3. AUTHOR'S NOTE

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**:

I would like to make something clear for some of you. This story almost completely ignores the happenings of the last two episodes of season 2 and most of the episodes in seasons 3 and 4. They did encounter the Acolytes; they didn't encounter the Sentinel (yet); Jean did break up with Duncan and is now dating Scott; they did reencounter Mystique and her advanced shape-shifting.

For the Animorphs I'm playing it by ear. I've read most of the books and know a pretty good bit about them, but I need to know where they live so I can either continue where they are now in my fanfic or have to make necessary adjustments. I want to make this as close to the original storyline as possible while still keeping up with the other. So if anyone knows where they live, or can give me a website on where they are, that would be much appreciated!


	4. The First Day

I am, _**SO**_ sorry it took so long to update! I've just been very busy and have been suffering from lack of inspiration. I have the ending in my brain, it's the filler leading up to it that's the problem. No matter. Thanks for sticking through!

Something I forgot in the AUTHOR'S NOTE, is that Apocalypse hasn't shown his ugly mug yet either. Seriously, have you _seen_ his face?! Seriously, what the fuck?! At first he was "ok," but then he changed and, _ugh_! What is he, a mutant or a robot?! Who the fuck has blue skin and red eyes? It contradicts itself assface! I still have nightmares about his face! Also, he's got a serious jaw. It was jutting out like his was some pompous rich guy! Seriously, it's like the animators didn't even care! Ya'll are entitled to your own opinions, but this is mine: _**WTF**_?! "I have planned nothing." What the fuck?! You call trying to turn the whole freaking planet into mutants "_nothing_"?! He just found it, figured it out, and decided to screw humanity. _**WTF**_?! I needed to get that off my chest. Thank you for reading it!

I thank you all for your opinions, advice, and general comments. I wasn't sure how people would react to this story, and I'm glad that there are many positive reviews. Also, yes, I do not truly _own_ any phrases stated in this fanfic, you are all welcome to use them. It would actually make me feel good! It would mean I came up with something that people actually like. I am glad that you are all reading my fanfic!

On another note, for those of you who weren't very fond of the _attempted_-rape scene, allow me to explain what it was for. First off, I had to have more than one meeting between the group members. Also, I have something special planed for Rachel and Logan (_**not**_ romantic)! Besides, it's _**RACHEL**_ we're talking about! Those of you who have read the books know she's hot! What self-respecting gang _wouldn't_ try to gang-rape her?

In response to _some_ readers, there are a few reasons I didn't make Rachel morph and just stomp them. One: when it happened in the book, there were, like, what, _two_ people? They were armatures! These guys are professionals. They had her surrounded in a matter of seconds. It's called teamwork. Two: they had a knife on the back of her neck. Oh, sure, just grow _into_ the knife! That's the reason they don't demorph from a small morph in a _jar_! And she didn't shrink because almost immediately she had a dick shoved in her mouth. If she tried to shrink the guy would have interpreted it like her biting him and had her killed. As for her being OOC and being emotional, wouldn't _you_ be if you were almost raped and your morphing power would have made it worse? Besides, I'm trying to humanize her a bit. And she wrapped her arms around Logan because he saved her. She was grateful to still have her virginity intact.

Speaking of which, the morphing process heals all wounds and damage to the body, right? What if one of the girls had sex, then morphed? Would her hymen heal? What would happen? Would she become a virgin again every time she morphed? If anyone thinks they have the answer, put it in a review.

And to answer _another_ reader, yes it is. And I'm thinking of any other couples (m/f or m/m) I can think of. If anyone has any ideas, please share them. I think I have enough f/f couples.

[_Sighs and wipes sweat off_] Glad _**that's**_ over! This is the longest A/N _**ever**_!

_**ONE MORE THING!**_ It's warmy _glow_ness! Not warmy glowyness! Get it right, damn it!

_**ONE MORE THING!**_ Enjoy! Or suffer.

* * *

**Chapter 3: The First Day**

When the X-Men got home from the mall after the fight, they told the Professor what had happened. He was mildly surprised to learn the Brotherhood had followed them all the way to California, but understood that Magneto would want to keep an eye on them. He was thankful, however, that the Brotherhood currently shared their need for secrecy, and hadn't used their powers. The X-Men also noticed Logan seemed a little detached during their DR session when they left with about one or two bruises each and only mild concussions.

The next day was the last day before school started for them. They stayed home because the Professor believed they had caused enough damage the previous day. He was also wary of the Brotherhood, not wanting a repeat of the fight. The X-Men were also restricted from using their powers for the day because of the fight. The X-Men felt this was a cruel punishment, being locked up in the mansion without the use of their powers.

The day passed without much happening. Kitty noticed that once in a while, a bird or two would land on the big oak tree in the courtyard and watch them intently. Rahne knew what it was, having already heard of their plan to watch them. She did, however, notice the Red-Tailed Hawk, whom she remembered as Tobias, once flying into the Professor's study. She wondered what that was about, but didn't ask the Professor about it.

Around noon though, Professor Xavier received a call from the school board.

"Yes?'" he answered. "This is he… Oh, I'm sorry to hear that… Really? Hm, I might know of one. I'll get back to you." Logan, he called after hanging up the phone. Can I see you for a moment?

Logan agreed somewhat reluctantly. When he arrived he sat down across from Charles. "Now, first of all," Charles said, "I've noticed you seem somewhat distant since you came back from shopping yesterday. I know having to go shopping didn't upset you _that_ much. I don't have to be psychic to see that something's bothering you."

Logan was silent for a moment. Xavier knew him all too well. "There was this girl," Logan finally said. "She was about to be raped, but I stopped them. She was fine, but what I can't get over is how familiar she looked. I could've sworn I've seen her before."

"You probably have," Xavier said. "Or her mother. You have to remember that so far your past before ten years ago still remains mostly a mystery."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Logan said.

"Now, on to the real reason I called you here," Xavier said. "The school our students are attending's PE instructor has had a heart attach and is no longer able to teach. The school board called me wondering if I knew anyone to replace him. I want you to do it."

"…_**WHAT?!**_" Logan shouted. "There is no way-!"

"Before you say 'no,' Logan," Charles interrupted. "Look at it this way: you're giving our students a warm up at school, and then you can work them harder when they come back."

Logan was still uncertain. "I don't know…" he said.

"And," Charles said. "You can keep a closer eye on that girl you saved and keep her out of trouble."

Logan perked a little at that. "Fine," he said, sounding more reluctant than he was. He felt a strange sense of protectiveness about that girl.

"Good," Charles said. "I'll tell the school board and tomorrow you will go early to get ready."

_What have I gotten myself into?_ Logan thought to himself.

***

The next morning, Logan left early, leaving the X-Men with no morning DR session. They were a little confused but decided to just enjoy the non-hectic morning.

Scott and Jean drove the students to school, and dropped them off at the school. When they were gone, the students took a moment to look at their new school.

"This is it," Kitty said, somewhat nervously. Kurt put a comforting arm around his girlfriend, earning a smile in return. They walked into the school hand-in-hand with the rest of the students. When inside, they went to the office and retrieved their schedules.

Kitty, Rahne, and Kurt all had the same advisory class. It was in the Chemistry room at room number 213. The others went to their own advisory classes and the trio made their way to their new lockers, put in what they were told was their combinations, got their books, and went to the class.

When Kitty's group made it to their class, they breathed sighs of relief. The bell was about to ring and they were glad they weren't going to be late. At the same time, they hoped the others had found their classes alright.

The Chemistry room was set up in rows of tables. Three tables in side-to-side and two people to a table. The room was mostly filled by now with a few seats left. The teacher was sitting in a large desk facing the class. He appeared to be reading a novel and was very absorbed in it.

"Um, excuse me?" Kitty said to the teacher.

He looked up from his book to look at her. "Oh, yes," he said. "You must be the new students. I'm your advisory teacher, Mr. Russell. Take any seat you want and I'll introduce you when class starts," he said with a smile.

The three students nodded and looked for vacant seats. Rahne looked around and spied Cassie sitting with her friend Rachel. Rahne took a seat at a table behind them. They were too busy talking to notice her. She heard Rachel talking about something that happened to her when she left the mall, and Cassie looked concerned. That was partially why Rahne liked her: she genuinely cared about others.

The bell rang and the chattering around the room quieted. Some of the students were glancing at the three new students wondering about them.

"Alright class," Mr. Russell said. "As you may have noticed we have three new students in class today, and several more in other classes. I will call them up and they will say something about themselves." He looked at the roster. "Katherine Pryde," he called.

Kitty stood up and walked to the front, earning stares from several boys in the class. "Hello," she said. "I'm Katherine Pryde, but I prefer to be called Kitty. I live at the Xavier's Institute up the road, and I'm Kurt Wagner's girlfriend." That last part earned some groans from most of the boys.

"Thank you _Kitty_," Mr. Russell said. She took her seat and he looked at the roster again. "Kurt Wagner," he called.

Kurt stood up and walked to the front, earning glares from most of the boys. "Mien name is Kurt Vagner, and yes, I am German. I also live at the Xavier's Institute and Kitty Pryde _is_ mien girlfriend." He returned the glares back to the boys.

Mr. Russell nodded and Kurt took his seat. Mr. Russell looked at the roster one last time and called, "Rahne Sinclair."

Rahne noticed Cassie perk a little and look around. Rahne smiled as she stood up and walked to the front. "'Ello," she said. "My name is Rahne Sinclair, and I'm Scottish, not Irish. Yes there _is_ a difference. I, along with Kitty and Kurt, live at the Institute as well. I also like dogs and wolves."

She took her seat as Mr. Russell began calling the names of the other students in role-call. She took her seat behind Cassie and watched her a bit.

When role-call was finished Mr. Russell put away the roster. "Alright, class," he said, "We have nothing of any importance to do at the moment, so talk amongst yourselves, but please do try to keep the noise to a minimum." He sat back down at his seat and reabsorbed himself in his book.

With that said, the whole class disregarded his request for minimum noise and all started talking. Cassie pulled Rachel and turned to face Rahne.

"Hi Rahne," she said. "This is my friend Rachel."

"_Best_ friend," Rachel corrected. "Hi, nice to meet you," she said with a smile, extending her hand.

"Hi," Rahne said, accepting the hand. "I'm Rahne. Nice to meet you, too!"

The rest of the class they exchanged meaningless dialogue. Or maybe it meant something to them. Something about who the current cutest boy in school was (Rachel talking this part), the newest fashion (also Rachel), who was currently dating who (the others got somewhat involved in this but still mostly Rachel. Maybe Rachel should've talked to a wall: same interest, same response.). Then the bell rang and the class emptied. Kitty and Kurt made their way to their first class: PE.

***

Marco couldn't wait. PE was basically his favorite class! Coach Whiler was a laid back, easygoing guy who barely made them do anything. Also, the guys and girls were together in class. They had separate locker rooms, of course, but he still got to see a lot of good looking girls in short gym shorts. The only thing Marco thought of as a flaw in Coach Whiler's laid back strategy was that he barely ever got to see the girls sweat. Oh, well. Can't have everything.

However, something wasn't quite right about today. When he and Jake walked out of the locker room and into the gym, they noticed an obstacle course. First there was a ten foot high climbing rope, then tire steps, a crawl thing where you crawl under rope netting (I think the military uses barbed wire), a few hurtles, then a ten meter run to the end. Everyone was gathering in front of it, talking and wondering what it was.

Then there was an ear-splitting whistle, silencing everyone. There, in the coach's uniform, was a large gruff looking man. Marco's first impression was an army general. He looked about ready to chew them up then spit them out then step on them.

"Good morning, maggots," he said to them, glaring holes in them. Only three people responded, those being the institution student (Kurt, Kitty, and Rouge). "Maybe you didn't hear me," he growled. "I said: _**GOOD MORNING, MAGGOTS!!!**_"

"Good morning, Coach!" came the hasty and somewhat frightened responses.

"That's more like it," he said. "As you maggots may have noticed, your usual gym teacher is not here. He had a heart attack and will no longer be teaching." About half the class groaned. "There will be none of that!" he shouted. "I won't have my class moaning and groaning because their old teacher's gone! I am you new coach, and I will hear no complaints on the matter. I am Coach Logan. You may refer to me as 'Coach' or 'Sir.' Is that understood?" There were murmurs in response. "I said: _**IS THAT UNDERSTOOD?!?!**_"

"YES COACH LOGAN, SIR!" the class yelled in response, all of them straitening up as though it was a military camp.

"Good. That's another thing: you will answer every question with a 'yes, sir' or 'no, sir.' There will be no slacking off." He glared around at them. "Now, I'm going to call role, and you will raise your hand and answer 'here, sir.' Understood?"

"Yes, sir!" the class said in unison.

"Good," he said. He looked at the roster. "Martin Gall."

"Here, sir!"

"Sarah Tay."

"Here, sir!"

"Jake Breneson."

"Here, sir!"

"Kitty Pryde."

"Here, sir!"

"Kurt Wagner."

"Here, sir!"

"Marco Laxus."

"George Washington!"

"…Marco Laxus."

"John F. Kennedy!"

Coach Logan walked over to Marco, who had a huge smile on his face. "Would you mind telling me why you're mocking me, Mr. Laxus?"

"Yes, sir, I would mind," Marco answered.

"Humor me," Logan growled.

"Well, sir, everyone seemed kind of tense, so I figured I'd try to lighten the mood a bit. Is it working?" Marco asked, looking around.

"No," Logan said simply. He was right. No one had laughed at Marco's jokes, and the tension and fear remained. "But since you like 'lightening the mood' around you, why don't you try it in detention. I hear they're all a little depressed in there." Marco's face fell and most of the class laughed a bit. "Now, unless anyone else has something to add, I'll continue."

The rest of role passed without any more trouble. "Now, if you'll look behind me you'll see your test. You will run this one at a time. You will have six minutes to complete it. If the six minutes ends and you are yet to reach the end, you will fail. If you fall, and don't get up in three seconds, you will return to the beginning and the timer will keep running."

"*This looks easy,*" Marco whispered to Jake. "*I could run this thing with my eyes closed.*"

"Is that so, Mr. Laxus?" Coach Logan asked. "Well if you're so confident, why don't you start us off?" The class chuckled as Marco grudgingly walked up to the first obstacle. "Three… Two… GO!"

Marco jumped up the rope and climbed… then fell flat on his back after a few feet. The class burst out laughing as he laid there.

Coach Logan walked over and leaned over him. "I'd say 'go back to the beginning,' but you're still there." The class laughed some more as Marco struggled to get up and back up the rope. After a few tries, he finally made it and continued with the course. However, when he was halfway through the crawling part, Coach Logan blew the whistle signaling the time was up.

"Well, well," Coach Logan said. "Looks like someone isn't as tough as he acts."

The class laughed as Marco made his way over to the bench. However, after most of the class and tried and failed the obstacle course, they didn't feel like laughing anymore. Only a handful of students managed to pass the course (Kitty, Rouge, Martin Gall, and Samantha Hill), and a few were only a few seconds behind (Jake, Sarah Tay, Josh Corner, and Patricia Kall). Kurt was excused from doing it because of a "physical disability." The rest failed just as miserably as Marco.

"I'm disappointed," Coach Logan said. "Only a few of you were in shape enough to complete this simple course! Go to the locker rooms and change and report back here before the bell rings."

The class went to the locker rooms and returned a minute before the bell.

"Now I don't know how things used to run around here, but those days of slacking are over!" Logan told them. "From now on, you will eat, drink, sleep, and shower PE. At the end of the school year we will run this very same course to assess if you have improved. And let me tell you, by the time I'm done with you, you'll be running this thing blindfolded! Is that understood?!"

"Yes, sir!" the class responded through groans of pain.

Then the bell rang and the class grudgingly got up and walked out.

"Mr. Laxus," Coach Logan called. "Don't forget! Come back here after school!"

"Yes, sir," Marco groaned as he left.

***

The day passed with more and more of the school learning the pain of PE. When lunch came, more than half the school were either dragging a friend or _being_ dragged to the cafeteria.

When Marco got his lunch, he made his way over to where most of the others were already seated. There was Jake, Rachel, and Cassie, with their new friends Kitty, Rahne, Kurt, and a Goth girl named Rouge.

Marco put his tray on the table next to Jake, who was in better condition than he was, and painfully eased himself into the seat.

"What happened to you?" Rachel asked, somewhat amused at his pain.

"PE's still taking its toll on me," he grunted.

"Why?" she asked. "Coach Whiler change his strategy a bit?"

"Haven't you heard?" Jake asked. "Coach Whiler had a heart attack. We got a new coach now. Someone called Coach Logan. I think he was in the military or something."

"Canadian Special Forces," Kitty said. They looked at her.

"How do you know that?" Marco asked.

"He lives at the Institute vith us," Kurt told them. "He puts us through physical training almost every day."

Marco looked horrified. "So you have to go through what we did _every day_?!" he asked.

"Actually," Kitty said, "what we went through today was _nothing_ compared to what we're used to."

"Yeah, well, I think he already hates Marco," Jake said.

"No, he doesn't," Kitty said. "He probably sees Marco as a challenge."

"What do you mean, 'challenge,'" Marco asked.

"Mr. Logan prides himself on his training skills," Kitty said. "He's probably going to try to break you. Make you the 'perfect soldier.'"

"Man," Marco said. "I think this G.I. Joe wannabe takes his job _way_ too seriously."

"I'd be careful where you say that," Rouge finally spoke. "Mr. Logan can pop up anywhere and has an amazing sense of hearing."

"Do you see him here?" Marco asked matter-of-factly. "No," he said without waiting for an answer. "So I'm perfectly safe."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Rahne said.

"We'll see," Marco said.

***

When school was out, and all the students were going home, Marco was trudging along towards the gym.

When he got there he saw Drake and Woo, the worst bullies in school, there, too.

"What are _you_ doing here, dork?" Woo sneered.

"Same as you, I suppose," Marco said, scowling. He still hadn't quite forgiven them since they dissed his mom. But if Coach Logan was overseeing them, perhaps it would be tolerable.

Just then, said coach walked in. In one hand there was a mop and a bucket, in the other, a pair of rags. He set them off to the side and walked up to them. Instinctively, they all straightened. Logan smirked.

"So," he said, "can any of you tell me why you're here?" Marco almost immediately raised his hand. Logan sighed. "Okay, Mr. Laxus, tell me."

"WE'RE HERE BECAUSE WE DISRESPECTED YOU, SIR!!!" he shouted, military-like. He looked at Drake and Woo. "At least that's my impression." Marco was already smirking to himself, though the others didn't seem as amused for some reason.

Coach Logan glared at Marco, effectively wiping the smirk from his face. "Well," he said, "you're right. You're all here because you all need to learn respect. And what better way, than physical labor."

"Sir?" Woo asked nervously. "What exactly _are_ we doing?" Drake face-palmed himself, and Marco snickered. Woo never was very bright.

"Marco, tell him," Logan said. He figured he'd humor the boy.

"Well," Marco said, putting on his detective face. "Considering the fact that we are, effective as of now, 'juvenile delinquents,' and the fact that there is equipment all over the gym, also adding the fact that Coach Logan so graciously provided cleaning equipment…" He paced around for a few seconds, adding unnecessary and unwanted drama. "I'd say we're going out to eat!"

Woo breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank god!" he said. "For a moment there I thought we were going to have to clean the whole gym!" They stared at him. "What?"

Marco looked at Drake. "You hang out with him to make yourself feel good about yourself, don't you?"

"Yeah…"

"_What_?" Woo asked, getting nervous again. Sometimes he felt as if some people knew more than he did.

Drake took Woo by the shoulders, as if he were sharing something personal. "Woo," he said, "we _are_ cleaning the gym." Woo looked shocked and mortified.

"Actually, _Marco_ is cleaning the gym," Logan confessed.

"_WHAT_?!" Marco asked. "By _myself_?!"

"Well first _all_ of you are going to move the equipment out," he said. "Then Woo and Hoo here are going to clean the locker room."

"By _myself_?!" Woo asked, even more shocked.

Drake sighed patiently. "I'll explain later, Woo," he said.

Logan supervised them as they moved the equipment to the side of the gym where it was out of the way.

"Come on, Woo," he said as he walked with Woo toward the locker room. As he went Drake grabbed the mop but Logan stopped him.

"Oh, no," he said. "You'll be using _these_." He produced two rags and a bucket of water. They groaned again as they went to the locker room.

Marco couldn't help but smile. Cleaning the locker room with nothing but water and hand rags? HA! Hilarious. Logan caught Marco's smile and snickered.

"Not bad for a 'G.I. Joe wannabe,' huh?" Logan asked, his snicker turning into a growl.

Marco groaned. "Who ratted?" he asked.

"No one," the coach answered. "I was passing through the cafeteria to the vice principal's office and I overheard your little comment. For _that_, you can come again tomorrow, and hopefully the locker room wouldn't have gained _too_ much filth." With that said, he walked out of the room, promising to expand Marco's punishment if he couldn't see himself in the floor when he returned.

Marco grudgingly started working. "Kitty said he might try to break me," he muttered to himself. "If that's true, then he's off to a good start. Jesus Christ, how could this get worse?"

* * *

How indeed? I'm sure I can think of a few ways!

I'd like to thank all those who had the patience to wait for this story, and I commend you. For all others, you're dirty stinking quitters who don't deserve a place on FanFiction! Just kidding.

For all your information, I'm going to be working on other stories now, too. It might be a while before the next update on this story, but I digest. One of my new stories is called _The Rise of the Lost City_. It's a Percy Jackson story. For more info read it. It may or may not be as good as this one, hell it may be better. Another story I'm going to be working on is an epic crossover fic: _SkyNet Adventures: New Recruits_. No, this SkyNet has nothing to do with Terminator. For more info, check it when it comes out.

_Fin_!... for now!


End file.
